Power Rangers Cosmic Force
by TimelessFool
Summary: The universe is in peril. A long forgotten enemy has come to rule the stars with an evil fist, and it is up to a new team of Power Rangers to stop him. (Fanmade Kyuranger Adaptation) "How far can you run from your past?"
1. Chapter 1

Episode 1: A Fallen Lion

The Power has failed. Five years ago, a being called Jack Matter united the forces of evil for an all-out assault on the universe. His conquest is near completion. Earth and others like it were quickly pacified in the initial attacks. Most forms of resistance are scattered amongst the stars. It seems that evil has finally triumphed. However, all does not appear to be lost …

* * *

The planet Horath, once freed from its former masters of gear and cog was now enslaved by masters of silver and black. The insignia of Jack Matter flew high above the smoke-filled skies of the newly conquered world. Legions of silver headed Entroopers and their plantlike commanders sorted through the survivors as Photon Fighters screeched through the skies blasting away at ruined skyscrapers as a show of force. Any last bit of resistance from the populace was silenced by the constant stare of Entrooper crimson visors. As the civilians were being herded for processing, three distinct twinkles of various colors from above caught their eyes.

In an instant, multiple laser blasts surged forth and shot down several Photon Fighters while others crashed along the surface to avoid the laser fire. Following the rain of lasers were three machines in the form of animals; a black bull, a green chameleon, and a yellow swordfish. As the three machines descend closer to the ground, one figure from each of the machines jumped and landed to the ground.

As the three figures rose from the landing they made, the Entroopers have a better view of their opponents. From the swordfish ship was a black Aquitian, easily distinguishable by the purple bumps that adorned his head. From the chameleon ship was a shorter human girl with her blonde hair done in a ponytail. And emerging from the bull ship was the largest of the three, a black and silver robot, six and a half feet tall, with the head of an ox. All three also brandished blue jackets although the robot has his draped over one of his shoulders.

As the Entroopers and Plantoids began to brandish their weapons the girl, with a smirk, spoke, "Time for our grand entrance. Think that these guys can handle it Velspro?"

The Aquitian was the next to speak, "Don't get overconfident Millie. These guys can still pack a punch. Got anything to add Aurox?"

The bull just gave a laugh, "Have you forgotten? The heroes always win in the end. Shall we?"

The other two nodded in unison and all three pulled out an orb and with a flick of their thumbs activated the orbs' power. Setting the orbs into the open socket of their wrist blasters on their left hand they yelled out, "Cosmic powers, Activate!"

All three shot blasts straight into the air, and in a sudden blinding flash all three appeared in their ranger uniforms.

"Tauros Power! Cosmic Black!"

"Chameleon Power! Cosmic Green!"

"Swordfish Power! Cosmic Yellow!"

With that, the three rangers began to engage the enemy. All of them rushed in, taking down some of the Entroopers with their hands while also using their blasters for the ones that were out of reach. They were doing well for their debut fight. Their melee with the foot soldiers was interrupted when they received a call from a female voice.

"Rangers, need I remind you that you're trying to make a good impression? It would be better getting the civilians to safety as oppose to being caught in the crossfire."

The Green Ranger was the first to respond, "Oh sorry Wren. We'll get right on it. Let's focus guys."

Her compatriots nodded at that and thus the three begin the evacuation process.

Just outside of the planet's orbit was a peculiarity that seemed distant from the fighting. A space scooter was lazily heading towards the planet with its sleeping occupant none of the wiser. That was until the scooter's computer blared out a call that caused the rider to wake up. "Now approaching the planet Horath. Repeat. Now approaching the planet Horath."

The rider became elated with the news, "Ah, fantastic! A chance to train with some of the best warriors in the universe." As he said that the scooter decided that now was the time for the engine to stall. With the scooter near the planet's atmosphere, the only direction it could go was down. As the rider tried in vain to steer the scooter for a more 'proper' landing, he verbalized his thoughts, "Oh now's the time for you to die on me."

Back on the surface, the Rangers were escorting a group of civilians to a cluster of ships until they came across a rather large amount of Entroopers. Knowing that with the large group of civilians behind them the Rangers could not guarantee everyone's safety. So, the three simply held back and try to prevent the Entroopers from coming any closer. After a tense few seconds, everyone was looking up as they heard the mixture of a sputtering engine and someone yelling hurtling towards them. Fortunately for one side, the falling object wiped out a large swipe of Entrooper forces.

Immediately, a figure sprung up, helmetless, with a hand running through his short brown hair. To the surprise of everyone, not a scratch can be seen on the person. "Woah! Kinda got lucky with that landing huh?"

The Black Ranger tilted his head at the sight of the strange figure, "Uh, what was that all about?"

The Yellow Ranger however saw a golden opportunity, "Doesn't matter! Now there is an opening for the evac! Everyone, stay close to us!"

With the Yellow Ranger charging forward, the other two Rangers quickly understood what he was saying and followed suit. While the Entroopers were trying to regroup from the crash, the middle of their formation was open for the Rangers as they fought while the civilians followed close behind. At the same time, the man in the scooter turned towards the commotion and was delighted at what he saw.

"Power Rangers! Now they would be ones who know how to get into a fight."

With that he grabbed his sword from the back of the scooter and joined into the fray. As he swung against some of the Entroopers he managed to get behind the Green Ranger who was a little surprised at the stranger, "Hey, who are you?"

"The name's Lance." As he turned to face the Ranger, his sword took out three Entroopers before resting on his shoulder, "And I would like to join you."

* * *

Sometime has past and the Rangers decided to bring Lance onto their ship, not helped by the fact that Horath was not the best place to stay and his scooter was busted. In the meantime, Lance is sitting in the main room of the ship eating sometime that Velspro cooked up once they returned, figuring that spending a long time on a space scooter would have made the spacefarer rather famished. Lance seemed to enjoy the meal, "Thanks for the food, it was rather delicious. It sure beats eating some stale rations."

Velspro appreciated the response, "Glad you like it. It's nice to have a second opinion what with Millie liking anything I make and Wren and Aurox here not being able to eat any of it."

Aurox took a second from training on the punching bag to explain himself, "It would probably be edible if there was some more oil in it."

"That would just destroy the whole thing."

"But it would be served with a side of justice."

"That does not make any sense!"

As the two continued to bicker, Millie and a pink haired, feminine looking robot arrived onto the deck. The robot, with tablet in hand, turned towards Lance. "Ah Lance. I managed to fix your scooter as best as I can. You should be able to land to the nearest inhabited planet and be on your way from there."

"Thanks, but that is not my intentions," Lance said while getting up, "I want to join you guys."

Everyone else, in a mix of surprise and disbelief, spoke, "What!?"

"Yeah. I'm aiming to be the best warrior in the universe just like Orion. Initially I figured that I would train alongside some of the universe's toughest. But with you guys around, why not join the greatest monster slayers out there?"

The pink haired robot, Wren, had a quick response, "You can't just join the Rangers on a whim. You need to have a Cosmic Orb first."

"Cosmic Orb?"

"Yes. They're artifacts that activate when the universe is in great peril. When Jack Matter conquered the universe, the Orbs started to appear and found their way to their proper owners; Aurox, owner of the Tauros Orb, Millie owner of the Chameleon Orb, and Velspro, owner of the Swordfish Orb. Together they form the last hope for the universe. Together they form the Cosmic Force Power Rangers."

"Impressive," Lance remarked. However, something about the team seemed off to him. "Although, I noticed that you guys lack a Red and Blue Ranger. So that must mean you're missing a few members."

Wren quickly fell from feeling proud of herself to twiddling her fingers. "W-well, that is correct. We're short six Rangers before the team is complete, so we have the Orb Detector installed into the ship to look for the rest."

"So that settles it then. I'll go find one of these Orbs and then I'll be able to join the team."

Millie quickly intervened. "Finding an Orb isn't that easy. They are scattered across the universe. And it took five years to get the three of us. Who knows where the next one's going to be."

"Shouldn't be a concern. I've traveled 200 planets by myself without any trouble. What harm is there trying to find an Orb along the way?"

That last bit piqued Velspro's interest, "Wait. You managed to travel that far without getting caught by any Entroopers?"

At that remark, Lance just put a hand behind his head and laughed, "What can I say? I'm just lucky like that."

Suddenly a dining sound can be heard throughout the deck, coming from a globe-like compass placed at the main desk in the room. There appeared to be a flickering, glowing arrow that was pointed towards the back of the ship with a set of coordinates.

Aurox was the one to verbalize what most of the ship was thinking, "A new Cosmic Orb has been found."

Lance was just elated at the news. He didn't have to wait long for his chance to join the Rangers. Grabbing his sword, he declared, "Fantastic! Now to grab myself an Orb!" And with that, he sprinted out of the room and towards his scooter. It took about a second for everyone else to process what had just happen. However, Wren was there to snap the others back to reality. "Well don't just stand there. Go after him."

The rest were quick to respond, "On it!" And so they ran to catchup with Lance.

* * *

Not so far away, a Capital-class Drillship floated through space with its commander Lord Nergal in tow. A new commander, he wanted an easy victory on Horath to court favor with Jack Matter. However, the presence of the Rangers proved problematic, as that would mean notifying Jack Matter on growing opposition to his rule. With a kneel and a hand on his staff Nergal began the conversation, "Milord. I have come to bring status on my conquest."

A hologram of his master appeared before him. Before him was a figure accentuated by the sheer size of the hologram towering over the commander. The being was adorned in armor that was adorned with faces and wings that formed drill like tips at the end. His face both intelligent and sinister looking with bright yellow eyes. And his bare chest and head was etched to appear to be parts of the brain.

The being in the hologram awaited the commander's report. "Ah, Lord Nergal. How goes the invasion of Horath?"

"The invasion is going as planned," Nergal calmly assured him. Although he was trying to stop the trembling that came with the following news. "However, there was a complication. There appeared to be reports of Power Rangers during the attack."

Jack Matter's eyes boiled with rage once he heard the statement. Power Rangers. More of them. While he was aware that he was unable to account for all of them. The fact that there were does that dare to confront his forces publicly. That would lead to further complications. He bellowed his new orders to Nergal with such fury that the transmission room rumbled in his wake, causing Nergal to fall to the floor. "Find these Rangers and destroy them! They must not be allowed to grow in numbers!"

Nergal, quickly try to straighten himself all the while giving a quick response, "At once my lord. It will be done."

* * *

Having gone to the coordinates the Detector displayed, Lance was confident that he had found the location of the Cosmic Orb and potentially Ranger powers. Granted, he wasn't sure which Ranger the Orb belonged to, but if it would allow him to join the team, he didn't care.

The same couldn't be said about his scooter as the engine sputtered and die again. As the scooter began to plummet towards the planet below, only one thing came to Lance's mind, "WWRRREEEENNNNN!"

Fortunately for Lance, the scooter crashed landed towards one of the many forests on the planet, so the thick canopy broke his fall. That still didn't stop him from hitting head first to the ground.

It wasn't long for Lance to return to consciousness, and not a moment too soon as he saw a pair of clawed feet coming towards him. Slowly pushing off the ground with both hands, Lance looked up and was able to have a clearer picture of the approaching figure. The figure was not what he expected as the figure was a hunched, blue, wolf-like person with scales instead of fur. His face covered in strange white tattoos and the only true hair the being had was white, shaven except for the top, and shortly tied behind his head. Seeing the figure with sword in hand, Lance quickly realize that he might be in trouble.

The wolf-like figure snarled at Lance while pointing his sword to Lance's face, "Why are you here?"

Lance only gave a quick response, "I'm just looking for something and then I'll be on my way."

The response he got began with a sword swing, "There's nothing here worth looking for. Now, get out of here!"

Lance barely managed to grab his own sword to deflect the attack aimed towards his head. A duel soon escalated between the two with Lance trying to reason with his opponent, however he was not willing to listen. Eventually the two made their way towards a beach with no clear victor between the two. At the same time, the Rangers manage to catch up and see the fight.

Millie, with a tired sigh, was the first to comment, "Guess we have to stop these two from causing any more harm."

She was only stopped by Velspro, "Wait a minute. They're probably not in the mood to stop. It is best for them to tire themselves out first."

The two fighters continued to clash swords. However, Lance noticed his opponent's right side being undefended, and took the initiative by punching him across his snout hoping for a knockout blow. After the punch, Lance noticed that his opponent was hiding something around his neck. As that something flew from the opponent's collar it was clear that it looked like a blue orb. Once his opponent landed on the ground from the punch, Lance was in between breaths while asking, "You have a Cosmic Orb. All along?"

"So that what this thing is?" the wolf asked while holding the Orb in his hand. "If this is what you were looking for then you can have it."

Lance simply refused, "I am not going to take something that is rightfully yours. Since you found it that must mean you are supposed to fight against Jack Matter." He then try to offer a hand to the wolf.

"Fight Jack Matter?" Lance's opponent asked, before swiping his legs to throw Lance off balance. Landing on his back, the next thing Lance saw was his opponent pointing a sword at his face. "You didn't think I have already tried that? You didn't think that my world stood by as the universe fell? I am the last survivor of the Sirian colony Lyca. This Orb took me away from my brothers that died in battle. Because of this thing I did not face an honorable death. I am no more than a coward! Now leave me alone!"

Lance could do nothing but to take it all in before slowly getting up. As he did, he tried to find a way to comfort the wolf, "I'm sorry that you lost your world, I'm truly am. I can also sympathize for not being able to fight when needed. But that should not be an excuse to do nothing! You are granted an incredible power few dream of possessing, and yet you decide to hide away while others suffer. That's more of a cowardly act than anything else!"

The Sirian can only stare in silence while the three Rangers off in the distance was only able watch and speculate about what is going on. With the waves crashing behind the two swordsmen, the only things the Rangers could have make out were the yelling. Suddenly Aurox noticed something approaching from the horizon, "Uh oh. We got company."

That company being a Capital-class Drillship and a swarm of Photon Fighters. Coming from the capital ship was Nergal's voice which could be heard across the beach, "Entroopers! In the name of Jack Matter, destroy the Power Rangers!" As he said that a large assortment of Entroopers and their Plantoid commanders landed on the beach to do battle.

The Rangers quickly morphed and ran towards the enemy. The Sirian on the other hand was quick to hide out in nearby bushes, still considering himself not worthy to fight again. Lance focused on fighting the enemy with the Rangers, until a Photon Fighter, trying to ram the Rangers, flew too close to the ground and causing Lance to be caught onto the ship's gun barrel as it flew away.

The Fighter, having noticed the stowaway, decided to accelerate through the atmosphere and expose him to the airless void of space. Holding on and aware that without his helmet that he will be losing oxygen, Lance was thinking to himself, _No, this is not how this is going to end. Not when there is a universe to save_. At that instant, he noticed a red glow that was emanating higher in the sky. That glow being a series of meteors falling onto the planet. The largest one striking the fighter and causing Lance to land on it with both of his hands holding on as the fighter was destroyed.

While trying to shield his eyes from the heat and debris, he saw a small red orb in front of him being held up by a series of green lightning. Lance was amazed about what this orb was implying. "A Cosmic Orb. Ha! Talk about luck!" The moment he grabbed it, a wrist blaster suddenly appeared, attached to his left hand. And as he placed the orb into the blaster's open slot, he instinctively knew what to say, "Cosmic powers, Activate!"

The combatants on the beach now noticed the meteor shower heading their way and tried their best to dodge them. Unfortunately for the Entroopers, the shower took out a large chunk of them in the ensuing inferno. And in the fiery blaze of the meteor landings stood Lance, now cladded in the uniform of a Red Ranger.

In glee he shouted, "Haha! Leo Power! Cosmic Red!"

Millie did not take it well, "What! He's the Red Ranger!?"

Aurox had the opposite approach, "Ha! Another warrior in the fight for justice!"

Velspro was more pragmatic, "We'll deal with it later. Right now, we have to beat these guys."

With that the Rangers pulled out their weapons. Lance brought out a new sword while Aurox, Millie, and Velspro brought an axe, a rapier, and a dagger respectively. Eventually the ground forces were reduced enough that the Rangers can focus on the fighters above. Aurox commanded Millie and Velspro to get into their Zords for aerial support while he deals with the remaining ground forces.

As such, Millie and Velspro tilted their orbs towards one end of the morpher, summoning their Zords seemingly out of nowhere. The two then jumped towards their Zords and begun to take out the Photon Fighters.

Seeing the two Rangers fight in their Zords caught the Red Ranger's attention. "Cool. Now how do I summon my own Zord?" However, that would probably have to wait as a Plantoid swung its club cannon behind him. While blocking the attack, the Orb on his blaster slightly tilted which caused the blaster to light up. Suddenly, the ground began to shake as a roar was heard. The noise came from a giant machine in the shape of a lion that materialized in the sky. Lance was then flown uncontrollably towards the giant machine as it blasted off to join the aerial fight.

This left Aurox alone to face the remaining ground forces which turned out to be too much to hold off, even for a giant robot like him. Off in distance, the Sirian was in awe the entire time the Rangers fought, all the while hearing the Red Ranger's words to him over and over again.

This caused something to stir in the Sirian as he was finally able to come to terms of what his thoughts have come to accept. "If they fight with the same power as I have, then I'm a fool if I am just going to standby and do nothing." With that, he yanked the Orb from his neck and saw a blaster morpher appear on his hand. Having heard the Rangers morphing call, he knew what he had to say, "Cosmic powers, Activate!"

Suddenly a Blue Ranger landed on top of an Entrooper and started to beat him using his claws. He then managed to fight his way towards the Black Ranger who was thankful for the help, "Excellent work, though I don't think we've ever got your name."

"Fenris."

"Aurox. Now let's beat these vile goons and join up with the others."

"Right."

* * *

While the Photon Fighters were numerous, the Green and Yellow Rangers were able to hold their own against them. That was until a Plantoid decided to grow massive above the Drillship and use his club cannon to snipe the Zords. With no care if the blasts hurt its compatriots, the monster was able to send the two Zords spinning in space all the while the giant monster gloated at his seeming victory. However, the Plantoid's gloats were stopped when the Red Ranger manage to shoot some missiles at it.

Lance afterwards exclaimed, "Don't worry guys I got you."

Millie was a little annoyed at this for one specific reason, "Of course he gets the bigger one."

Lance was pressing all sorts of buttons and levers to get the two towards him, until he accidently nudged his blaster which caused the Chameleon and Swordfish Zords to link up as if they were arms. Lance amusingly ask, "Woah, did you guys know about this?"

Velspro responded, "It was mainly just the three of us, so the answer is no. Look, the Plantoid is heading towards the moon."

"Might as well finish this right?" Lance shouted.

He then hears Aurox on the intercom, "Not without us you're not." As such, heading their way was the Tauros Zord and another one that looked like a mechanical wolf.

It was Fenris's turn to speak, "This is Fenris. Finally time to do something with these powers don't you think?"

Lance instantly recognized who was the Blue Ranger from the voice. "Glad to have you with us. Now let's form a true Megazord!"

As they landed on the moon, the Tauros and Lycan Zords linked up to form the legs and now the Constellation Megazord, they were truly ready to face the Plantoid. With the Plantoid not fully aware of the new Megazord's capabilities, the best it can do was swing its club cannon as the giant machine was coming at point blank range. Dodging the attack, the Megazord countered it with claw and horn kicks before using its Chameleon arm to snatch the cannon away, followed by the Swordfish arm stabbing the Plantoid countless times. The fight ended with the Megazord powering up its final attack, a slash of its sword, which caused the ground in front of it to break apart. This sent the monster to its fiery doom as the Megazord turned around heroically.

* * *

While the Drillship managed to flee the battle, Jack Matter was not taking the news that Nergal brought well, "I thought that someone like you could take care of this problem. Perhaps my faith has been misplaced." the hologram then started to power up a black energy ball in one of his hands.

Nergal tried to reassure his master, "Wait milord. This was only a minor setback. I will be able to complete the job just as you instructed. I just need a little more time"

Jack Matter contemplated for a moment before lowering his hand, "Very well. The Rangers have yet to come into full strength. Make sure that does not happen or I shall see to it your replacement."

"Of course, milord."

* * *

The Rangers have arrived back into their ship and were ready to welcome in their newest members. Both Lance and Fenris came onto the deck, all cleaned up and now wearing the blue jackets like the other Rangers. Lance was the first to speak, "Fantastic, now we're officially part of the team. Only four more Orbs and we can take the fight to Jack Matter himself."

Velspro gave a counterpoint, "Slow down for a minute. The enemy knows who we are now so we can't just blindly charge in every time. Also, there's still work to be done outside of getting the others."

Fenris then reassure the new Red Ranger, "Even so, with more Rangers it just means more trouble that we can cause to Jack Matter."

Aurox chimed in for support as well, "And as the good guys, we will reach our goal in the end!"

With that Lance, Fenris, and Aurox yelled over each other.

"To Victory!"

"Arwhooo!"

"Justice will prevail!"

Millie can only put a hand over her face, "The saviors of the universe and they can't even chant in unison."

Lance then interjected over something that has been bothering him, "Oh by the way Wren you didn't fix my scooter at all."

This sent the robot into a rage. "I'm a pilot robot not a mechanic! And besides, I said it could take you to the nearest planet and you decide to overshoot it!" As she was saying this she chased Lance around while using her tablet as a bludgeoning tool. It took the strength of everyone else to calm her down.

* * *

On the planet Onyx, two figures were sitting together in a tavern bar. One looked like a human with tanned skin and brown hair, writing down something on a piece of paper, while the other was a gold-plated robot that was looking at a tablet while going over the news. The robot quickly swipe through the articles until something piqued his interests. Two humans, a Sirian, an Aquitian, and a robot, all with hefty bounties on their heads.

* * *

 **A/N:** Happy, belated, 25th anniversary. Curious to see where this goes. Also yes this feels like a carbon copy of Kyuranger, it's going to be a while.


	2. Chapter 2

Episode 2: The Pursuit for Silver and Gold

The planet Onyx. Long considered to be the safest haven for monsters and those that consider themselves evil. No matter the species or the language there are two basic rules one must abide to on this world; shoot any do-gooders on sight and all giant monster attacks must be conducted outside of the city limits. Neither of these were of much concern to two individuals sitting down by the tavern bar. While the tan skinned human of the pair was muttering to himself over the layout of a building, his robot partner was clearly distracted by what he was seeing on his tablet screen. A recent addition to the bounty board but still a rather tantalizing offer. Five targets, each with a bounty of five million Space Bucks. Immediately, a flurry of ideas came to the robot's mind of how to spend it all. He could probably use it to rule over a world in secret, open a food stand somewhere out in the cosmos, or maybe just hoard it over for the sake of it.

Eventually his mind drifted to the idea of asking for the reward in gold to match the color of his body, feeling almost giddy just from the thought of it. He could see it now, him swimming in an endless sea of molten gold or even better, rolling around on a solid gold bed in the middle of a shiny, solid gold room. The only disconcerting thing about his dream however was an ever-increasing banging noise coming from the walls.

Sadly, for the robot, it was his partner returning him back to reality with the tapping of his pen onto the robot's head. The robot tried to swat at the human only to see him still focused on the layout in front of him. "Why did you do have to do that?" the robot annoyingly said.

"Because you got distracted as oppose to helping me plan this heist."

"Well I'm truly sorry for keeping you away from your scribbling but I happen to stumble upon a much more alluring acquisition," the robot eagerly said while tilting the tablet screen towards his partner's direction.

Curious, the human looked up from his blueprints to glance at the robot's tablet before giving him an unconvinced look. "Power Rangers. Really?"

"Hear me out Ray. This bounty just came out an hour ago, so not everyone is aware of it. I figure that if we act quickly, we can catch them before someone like Ringbah or the Mollusk Bunch gets their hands on them. And therefore, get our hands on that sweet, sweet gold." The robot was not able to hold back his enthusiasm.

Ray however was unconvinced, "I don't think it's worth it."

This just caused to robot to begin begging and inching closer to his partner in crime, "Please Ray, we don't even know how much what we're stealing is actually worth. They could be worthless or worse, duplicates! At least with these guys we have a guarantee of riches."

Ray pushed the robot back with his pen before retorting, "Do I need to remind you Jin that these guys would most likely be well armed as well as not hesitating to use their giant robot to flatten us? We wouldn't be able to afford even the barest essentials to fight them."

Admitting defeat, Jin just put his head down and went back to working on his part of their heist. Ray then try to comfort Jin with one thing he knew could work, logic. "Besides they could be anywhere in the universe right now. What are the odds of them showing up around here?"

* * *

Things were quiet on the deck as Wren sat in the pilot's seat while reading through her tablet. As the ship was mainly assigned to distress calls or when a new Cosmic Orb is discovered, it generally spends most of the time slowly cruising through space. As such after the first year Wren quickly became bored of constantly having her hands on the wheel waiting for any signal to change course and was in desperate need to not be bored.

To cope with her newfound free time, she turned to an alternative; checking the news to see if anything special would require Ranger assistance. She's also developed a habit of talking to herself while she's alone, "Let's see. 'Brave Soldiers Killed by Multicolored Goons: By Lustria L. Lapland.'" Wren couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes considering the writer's tendency to side with Jack Matter. "Really need to blacklist her articles. 'Theoretical Uses for Zyrium Powder Waste.' No. 'Mysterious Matador Spotted in Marina.' Could be a possible lead. Command has been trying to find new allies. However, getting to Marina from here would require going through the Tarnhelm Veil and there's nothing important in the Veil. There's nothing important in the Veil. There's nothing …" Wren had to rub her eyes after that, not being able to concentrate. "Must have been staring at this for too long. Probably best to take a break."

Shortly afterwards, the door leading to the deck opened revealing the Rangers clearly in a disheveled state and out of breath. Hoping that the Rangers were more productive than they looked Wren asked, "How did training go?"

Lance was unnaturally chipper given his untidy appearance, "I think it went well. Fenris and I were able to take down the simulated monster in record time."

Millie chimed in in between breaths, "That's because you two rushed into attacking the thing while the rest of us did the actual objective and the hundred drones." She then placed the torn drone arm she was carrying onto the table as proof of her testament.

Fenris tried to intervene, "But the monster was clearly the bigger target. Who knows what problems could have happen if he wasn't taken down quickly. While at the same time, you three took care of the mundane stuff. I would say teamwork achieved."

Velspro wanted to contradict him while at the same time look for an ice pack for his bulbous head. "That's not how this is supposed to work. You can't just try to run off on your own for glory while the rest of us ty to do the actual work. On top of that, it's going to be harder when the other four Rangers show up."

"And it just got a lot harder to find them," Wren interjected before sliding her fingers across her tablet and swished them towards the table. Instantly a hologram appeared with the Rangers' heads on display followed by a hefty bounty for each of them. "You're wanted criminals now."

Fenris seemed to be happy about this compared to most of the room, "So Jack Matter considers us to be a major threat now? Perfect." Aurox nodded in agreement.

"No, not perfect," responded Velspro, "This would just cause any money hungry fool to come after us now."

Lance, with a surprising bit of sensibility, concurred, "No big deal. As long as we stick to the quieter worlds there shouldn't be much trouble."

It was at that point that the Orb Detector lit up indicating the detection of a new Cosmic Orb. With it, the Detector revealed the direction as well as the coordinates for where the Orb would be.

Lance was ecstatic with the news, "But that could wait once we get the new Ranger. I'll go on ahead and try to be back in no time." And with that he sprinted towards the door.

Just like last time, everyone else in the room was mostly speechless although this time Millie did try to verbally stop him to no avail as he already left the deck.

Velspro briefly sighed, "Does he even know where exactly the Orb is?"

Nervously Wren answered, "Not exactly. But the Zords are linked to the Detector whenever it finds an Orb so eventually he will."

With that Millie just dropped her head, "Come on. Let's make sure our fearless leader doesn't hurt himself."

"Uh, you guys should know that the Orb's location is not the most pleasant place for us." Wren followed that up by showing the team where exactly the Orb is located, and it just caused all their hearts to sink. Out of all the places in the universe for a Cosmic Orb to be, it had to be on Onyx.

* * *

As Lance began to approach the planet, he thought to himself that maybe he was a little too rash about going off on his own. Not only was he going to a planet that has an eternal open season on Rangers, but he is flying there on his Zord. At this point he might as well have a sign with the reward money around his neck. But he was still committed to finding the newest Ranger for the team and he cannot return empty handed, even if it would be nearly impossible. He would just now have to do it carefully while avoiding too much attention.

Looking at the town far off in the distance he began to think out loud, "Let's see. I could at least take this off," speaking about the jacket which while looking good on him, has the symbol of the Resistance on it so probably best to leave it behind. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the morpher on his hand. Not only would he be severely disadvantaged without it, he can't seem to take it off even if he wanted to. Wren did mention that it could only be taken off while on the ship. "If only this thing was smaller or at least can change size," he sighed. The best he can do was to find a rag from the Zord and just wrap it around his hand like a cast. He can't do much to hide his face or his short, brown hair aside from trying to smudge it with dirt. With that done, all he can now was smile, head to town, and hope no one would recognize him.

Going through town, Lance noticed that it was less frightening than what he was led to believe. Every human child grew up on horror stories of how Onyx was where all their worst nightmares came out to play. Of how there was a fight at every corner or how they eat pets for breakfast. But to be honest, the place was not that bad. Sure, there was the occasional bar fight, Lance nearly ran into one that crashed into a window in front of him, but past that there were still looked like decent people just trying to make a living. However, he cannot become distracted. He was there to find the Ranger that was detected and then leave as quickly as possible. The only problem was finding this person. "Where does one find a do-gooder in a place that hates them?"

Just as he said that, he heard a commotion down the street. Hearing the screeches of a couple of Entroopers, Lance readied himself for a confrontation, however he soon realized that there was no need. He saw two figures, a human and a robot, flying on what seemed to be gliders being chased by Entoopers who were trying to shoot them down. As the two beings made a sharp turn towards the main road, the human threw a stone at one of the water troughs lining the road sending water in front of them causing it to break. As he flew past the growing puddle, the robot dipped down and extended one of his fingers that began to spark with blue lightning. The Entroopers were too preoccupied looking up towards the two that they did not realize the water beneath their feet until the robot's electricity took them out. With that the two made their way towards the ground.

Seeing the pair taking out a group of Jack Matter's forces was enough to convince Lance to begin his search with them. As he approached them, the tan human bickered with his robot companion. "Are these gliders really necessary?"

"You always have to prepare for everything remember? Besides, you said we needed backup plans for this."

"Yeah, but I was expecting something less noticeable."

"Trust me, these are still useful. Just need the right opportunity."

"Hey," Lance interrupted. "I was wondering if your guys can help me." The two turned towards the voice and saw Lance coming towards them. The human responded cautiously. "What exactly do you help with?"

"I am looking for a…" Lance just now realized that he needed to be careful with what he had to say. Sure, they just took out some Entroopers, but who's to say that they could be entirely trusted. If he said anything about the Rangers, then his cover could be blown and then it would be him versus an entire planet. He just wasn't ready for that. "I need to talk to someone about some stuff I lost. I'm new around here so I don't really know where I am supposed to go"

The other human did not seem to buy it, however the robot seemed to be gaining interest. "May I ask what these items exactly look like?" Lance was happy to oblige. "Oh, just some small spheres that fit into your hand that's all." He was pretty sure no one can tell what they were from that.

The robot was quick to answer. "Hm. Give us a minute." With that the robot threw his arm around his partner to turn away and began whispering. "I say that we go help him."

His human partner blinked at that. "Don't we have a heist to plan. Plus, I'm pretty sure that this guy is lying. And terribly I might add."

The robot grinned and went to grab his tablet. "I feel like we're both looking for the same thing." He then showed his partner the Wanted poster for the Rangers from before and tapped the Rad Ranger's portrait to enlarge it. The robot's partner took a quick look at the picture and tried to look back at the stranger but was stopped by the robot. "Don't look at him. It will cause suspicion."

"Ok so he's 'might be' a Ranger. What are you suggesting? It's not like we could try capturing him in front of everybody."

"I'm proposing that we take him with us. We would have extra muscle with us to take out anymore guards. He seems gullible enough that he would follow us to do it anyway, and plus if we get caught we could either push him towards the authorities to escape or get the reward."

The human took a bit to assess what the robot said. The logic seemed to be sound, but something gnawed in him that something wasn't right about tricking the stranger. But just as he said, it would probably be best to do the heist with some extra protection, so his logical side won out. "Sounds like a good idea."

The robot was filled with glee just thinking about the gold they could get if they do this right. Also, the increased likelihood of the heist working, but to him it was mostly the gold. He turned around towards the Ranger and began the introductions. "Well of course we would help you. But first some intros are in order. I'm Jin. This is Ray. If you're looking for something, odds are it's in the Governor's palace. The man is just in love with getting his hands on anything that may be of value. As a matter of fact, we were going that way ourselves. We… apparently misplaced our glider licenses so we would have to reregister them. Hence the guards following us earlier."

Ray seemed perplexed at that last part. "We did?" Jin's response was a quick elbow to his side as a way for him to shut up.

Amazingly Lance still bought it. "Great. The name's Lance by the way." He then extended his hand for a handshake which Jin returned. "Pleasure doing business with you."

* * *

At another part of the town the rest of the Rangers have managed to land, seemingly without being detected, and were walking through the streets trying to find their missing leader. Given the situation, they managed to get some decent disguises; Millie and Velspro mostly wore cloaks to hide their heads and morphers, Fenris relying on a bandana and a cap to avoid recognition. Aurox on the other hand got the short end of the deal. Considering his size, the best they could do was drape the largest blanket they could find around him and hide his head within a cardboard box. Based on the muffled sounds coming from the box Aurox was not happy about it at all. "This is absolutely humiliating. Heroes should not cower in the face of sheer adversity. Also, my nose itches."

"We already went through this. Everyone here will be out for our heads. It would be best if we just grab Lance and the Orbs and leave quickly." Velspro reiterated. Sadly, not much could get through the robot's mind outside of heroics. But right now, he's got another problematic Ranger to deal with. "Any luck there Fenris?"

Fenris gave a quick sniff before he responded. "'Fraid not. This many people in this town is making it very difficult. Shouldn't be much concern though, pretty sure Lance can take care of himself."

"If you ask me he seems to always go off without thinking for a sec-," Millie was then distracted by the troll like doll that was sitting on one of the store windows. "Ooo, is that a Mr. Ticklesneezer?"

"Millie, focus." This was the one part of the job that Velspro disliked, babysitting. Sure Millie would readily follow orders, but her being the youngest means that she can still go off topic, Aurox would often play six degrees of being a hero, Lance already shows that he's more of an act first kind of guy, and Fenris seems to be more like Lance's faithful companion than anything else. Wren, while willing to help, often tends to avoid any drama that comes up. Velspro just hope that the two new Rangers could help bring some order.

A yelp from Fenris drew the other's attention. "I got Lance's scent. He's following one, no, two people. And he's actually coming this way." Fenris turned out to be correct as he saw Lance further down the street, being led by another human and a robot before going further away from the Rangers.

The Rangers tried to yell at Lance to hold up to no avail before trying to catch up with him. That was until they found out why Lance was running away. Nergal somehow tracked them here and has brought some Entroopers with him. And unfortunately, the disguises weren't working on him. "You think you can just come here without me noticing Rangers? No, for I am the great Nergal, and you will tremble before me!"

Aurox at that point thought that it would be a great idea to charge in, throwing off his disguise, and attack Nergal. Fenris quickly followed suit with sword in hand. Millie and Velspro took a glance at each other before realizing what the best plan was. And that plan was push everyone back into the alley where Nergal came from. If they were going to have to fight in a planet full of villains. They would at least do it away from as many people as possible.

* * *

At the same time, Lance, Ray, and Jin were still on their way to the Governor's palace. While Jin was searching for their planned entrance into the building Lance was inquiring Ray about the two. "So, how exactly did you two meet?"

"Basically, we were both on a prison ship and he found me while trying to escape. I found myself in a dark cell with no idea of how I got there or what was happening, and he just so happen to open my cell door."

Jin interjected, taking his head off his tablet. "Aw, you flatter me." When retuning towards the screen he then quickly added the truth of what happened. "It wasn't like I didn't the way out and just kept pressing doors. Nope, not like that at all." Jin made an impression of clearing his throat to try to divert the two's attention of what he just said. "Anyway, Ray was able to find a way out of the ship and we hooked up ever since. After that, we just bounced around doing whatever we liked." Obviously hiding the fact that most of those adventures involved pulling heists.

Even so, Lance was still impressed by the two. Two other travelers, going around the universe doing what they like. "Sounds like you two have been on quite the adventures. You must've met plenty of interesting people along the way."

Jin was trying, and failing, to hold off his laughter. "That is not the case at all. We tend to attract people who would want to take advantage of us. In one way or another, they always tend to double cross us. So, we've mostly just stick with the two of us." Jin obviously left out the part of it becoming a game of who would double cross who first.

Lance turned towards Ray for his comment. "And you're fine with this?"

"Of course. I mean sure everyone we meet would want to leave us with all the trouble, but we've always relied on each other to get out of them. And I know that he would never leave me to fend for myself. Jin's the only one that I can actually consider a friend."

"Even so, it is not a bad thing to rely on other people more often. They might just want to help." As Lance said this, he was clearly trying to avoid the fact that he was ignoring his own advice by going off on his own and not relying on the other Rangers.

Jin then stopped as they have finally reached their destination. "Ah here we are! The Governor's Palace. It's probably best that we avoid the main entrance. Figured the guards would not like to see us considering we took down some of their friends."

While understanding, Lance was a bit peeved that they couldn't just take the direct route. "So now what?"

Jin reassured Lance on the situation. "Relax. There's a side entrance that is rarely used. We just go through there." The robot led the way as usual while making sure that the guards weren't looking at them. When they arrived towards the side door, as stated, there was no one there. Jin was happy that he was right, until he found something that would throw the whole plan off. He turned towards Lance and Ray to tell them the dilemma. "We have a problem. That door has a keyboard lock, and my electrical trick could take forever to find the combination. So, we need a new plan going in."

Jin leaned towards Ray to make up a new plan on the fly, leaving Lance out of the conversation. "This is what I'm thinking. We use the gliders we got to fly onto the roof and enter in through one of the windows. Would that work?"

"Not sure. We'll need to factor in how often the guards pass by or look at our direction. Not to mention figure out which window to use and how we are not going to draw attention while on the gliders."

Jin patted Ray's head, "Don't worry. Give it enough time and you'll be able to figure it out. Now with the deal with Lance-" The two then heard a set of button presses followed by an opening door. Looking towards where the sound come from, it turns out Lance went off and figured out the door combination on the first try. Jin was clearly flabbergasted at this. "How did you figure it out so easily!?"

Lance only gave a shrug. "A bunch of these passcodes tend to just be either one, two, three, four, or backwards." Jin could only stare there in disbelief. It took Ray to drag him towards the door. "Don't worry about him Lance. He just like to do things with more flair."

Closing the door behind them, Jin resumed the job of looking towards the tablet finding the correct room. Still not happy about Lance's dumb luck, but there are bigger priorities now. The three then made their way towards a large room fully of displays of various items in glass boxes. Searching through them, Jin saw what he was looking for at the far end; a glass box displaying two stone orbs. Grabbing Ray and Lance, he led them to the prize. "I don't suppose those are what you are looking for?" Jin asked directly to Lance.

"Yeah, actually they are."

"Well soon enough, they'll be safely in our… I mean your hands. Just give me a minute." Releasing the humans, Jin went on to break into the glass cube. By focusing the electricity within him to one of his fingers, he was able to create some heat that he used to draw a circle onto the glass. Careful to grab the cut-out glass from falling, he used his other hand to grab the orbs.

Ray felt that something didn't feel right about this. This just seem a little too easy. Dark lit room, no guards, not even some sort of motion sensor on the individual displays.

Lance was also felt that something was off for a different reason. "Wait, didn't you guys came here needing to renew you're glider licenses?"

Jin stopped for the moment. This was it. The jig was up. Might as well confess since with his hand inside the box, there was not much he can say to convince Lance otherwise. "Funny thing about that-" He then saw a bunch of red dots darting around his body. The same thing happened to Lance and Ray.

The room then lit up brightly and it was at that moment the three realized that they were caught. Above them was a second level full of turrets pointed at them and at the center was the Governor not looking happy to see them in his prize room. "What do we have here? Three intruders wanting to take my stuff?"

Jin quickly took his hand out of the box and try to talk his way out of this. "Oh Governor. Surprise to see you here. The thing is that my friend and I were in the neighborhood and we just so happen to see this Red Ranger running about."

Lance turned towards Jin and gave a quick response, "What?" Ray meanwhile just stayed silent. Too many times he had realize that the robot was better in talking others down than him.

The Governor, with great interest, tilted forward on the railing to observe further. "A Ranger you say?"

"A Red Ranger, if I need to repeat myself," Jin slowly took out his tablet, trying to not get shot, and opened the page of the Ranger's Wanted poster. "As you can see, the genuine article. And to think that he could get away with just some smudges on his face."

"Can you explain then why you were trying to still my treasures?"

"Uh. He turned towards us thinking that we can help him steal your priceless treasures your Excellency. We were just playing along so that we can deliver him to you. Besides, what worth is there for me and my friend? Two lowly thieves against a Power Ranger. I'm sure Jack Matter would reward you immensely with him compared to the two of us."

Humming for a bit, the Governor was a bit intrigued. Sure, he could probably get a reward for the other human and robot, but the wealth from one Ranger could overtake any reward for the two thieves combined. Also, he was ruling over a planet known for its crime. He could just grab them later. "I might consider this offer."

Jin was relieved, his bluff worked. "Excellent. Now if you excuse us, how's about rewarding us with one of your trinkets?"

"How about this? You hand me the Ranger and I consider not turning you two into Swiss cheese?" Sure, the two delivered the Ranger, but they were still caught in the act of trying to steal his stuff. Also, the robot ratted themselves as thieves.

Jin looked down at all the red dots pointed towards him and gave a small chuckle. "You drive a hard bargain dear sir, but we would gladly accept. Come on Ray." Jin headed towards the door while Ray was more hesitant. While this was a regular double cross they have done before, Lance did not seem the kind of person that would be their typical victim. He seemed friendlier and genuine compared to the others. However, he went along with Jin because at least he was still able to get out alive and free.

This just left Lance hands up, covered in the turrets' targeting lasers, and having no idea of how he would get out of this.

Catching up with Jin, Ray had a second thing in mind, "That's it? We're just going to leave with nothing?"

Jin laughed at his partner's confusion. "Oh Ray. Do you have so little faith in me?" He held up the two orbs in-between in fingers, so proud of himself. "Managed to grab them just when the lights came up. Now we just got to hop onto a ship before the Governor can even notice." While Jin was gleefully ready to leave, Ray was not in the same mood. "And we're seriously going to leave the Ranger behind?"

Jin stopped in his tracks and tilted his head back, not believing what he was hearing. "You're kidding right? We both agreed that we would drop him at the first sign of trouble."

"I don't know. It just doesn't seem right."

"Of course it does. It's just like all the other times we've done this. Just you and me. Man and Robot. A matched set. The two of us against the universe. Anyone else would just cause trouble."

It was always with that line. And as Jin pointed out at times before it usually was true. But now it just seems to defy all previous logic to Ray. "No, he seems different. More like a … friend." With the utterance of that word, Ray had made of his mind. "And as a friend, it is my job to help him." Ray then turned around and ran back from where he came.

Jin was left in shock. His partner in crime ran out on him. He wasn't quite sure what he would do. Eventually that shock slowly turned into anger and he thought he had his answer. "Fine! What do I care? More gold for me!" Jin resumed walking out of the building muttering as he went, "What does he know? Not like he was the first one to leave. Let's see him take on those turrets himself." He just stopped after that last sentence. Now he wasn't sure why at that moment. He knows that he can just leave. But all he can do was look at the Orbs in his hand and remember what Ray mentioned earlier, " _Jin's the only one that I can actually consider a friend._ " Jin can only let out the closest he can to a huff when he realized what he wanted to do. "Dang it."

Back in the treasury room, the Governor was in glee looking at the captured Red Ranger. "Oh I wonder what I can get out of you. Maybe a new planet to rule? A drillship to command? Or maybe Jack Matter would make me part of his inner circle!" while the Governor was spouting the possible rewards, Lance was still standing there hands up and looking a bit bored. Granted, being aimed at by dozens of turrets would limit his options. But it was at that point, something came up in the Governor's mind. "Actually, would it be better if I present you alive or dead? I might not get as big of a reward, but on the other hand your type are known to be a hassle." In a shrug, he made up his mind. "Might as well just let Jack Matter sort it out."

It was then that a different voice shouted out into the room, "There would be no sorting out today!" Lance and Governor turned towards the direction of the voice to reveal Ray. Lance was surprised by the turn of events. "I thought that you were just going to leave me here."

Coming to Lance's side, Ray gave his response. "I can't do that to someone that I might call a … friend."

While thinking it was nice to feel the sentiment, Lance was bothered by one thing. "That's great and all, but I don't think that'll help with our situation here." It was then that Ray looked down only to see half of the tracking lasers move towards him. Putting his hands up, Ray just then realized that maybe this wasn't the best of ideas.

The Governor was having none of it. "If you want to die with your so called friend then be my guest. Another criminal taken care of anyway." With a snap of his fingers, the turrets began to wind up. Ready to fire on the two humans. Ray grabbed Lance and threw him back, trying to take the blunt of the turret fire. Fortunately, the next sounds that he heard was of the turrets spurting before turning themselves off. The Governor was expectedly livid. "What? How is that possible?"

It was then that everyone heard metal knocking from one of the turrets. As they turned to where the sound came from, they saw a familiar shape of a golden robot. "Having all of your turrets connected to each other and sharing the same password? I expected more of a challenge." Jin jumped off the second floor and joined the humans. Lance was clearly not amused this time around. "Don't worry. There is no more backstabbing from me. I'm mostly here for this guy" Jin then wrapped his arm around Ray. "Besides, someone's got to keep an eye on Ray here. And if it involves helping out those he considers his friends, then so be it."

Suddenly, a green glow appeared behind the robot. It turned out to be the two stone orbs as it was revealed when each one flew in front of Ray and Jin. Not knowing what else to do, the two grabbed the orbs in front of them. This resulted in the appearance of wrist blasters on their left hands. While the two were a bit confused of what happened, Lance was just elated. "Alright! We got two new Rangers!"

The Governor on the other hand was not in a celebratory mood. His capture plan just went up in smoke and now he has three Rangers to deal with. "One was trouble enough. Now there are three of you? Screw this!" When he turned around to escape, he pressed a button to reveal Entroopers descending from the ceiling and surrounding the three.

Lance was quick to pop out his own Orb. "Don't worry you two. Follow me and we can get out of this. Ready?"

"It's the best plan we got. Jin?"

"Random people wanting our heads? Just a regular day for us."

Following Lance's lead, Ray and Jin activated their morphers to reveal their new found Ranger powers with Ray in a silver uniform and Jin in a gold one.

"Balance Power! Cosmic Gold!"

"Serpent Power! Cosmic Silver!"

Forming his Ranger weapon, Lance quickly spouted out his order. "Now to beat these guys quickly and grab the Governor before more trouble comes." He then charged into the mass of Entroopers. Jin, following suit formed a sword from his Ranger weapon as well. Unfortunately, it turned out to be heavier than it appeared to be. It took him a few weapon combinations, and a few lucky hits on Entroopers, to get the perfect weapon for him, a crossbow. Ray had little trouble finding his ideal weapon which was a sickle. And so it took no time to take out the Entroopers and pursue the Governor.

It took a bit but finally the Governor made it outside. Sadly for him, the three Rangers managed to catch up to face him. Running out of options, he resorted to his last one. "Try beating me when I tower over you!" With that, he grew to massive size and ready to stomp the Rangers. Quickly Lance summoned his Zord and was followed by Ray and Jin, who's Zords took on a more humanoid shape. All three managed to get out of the way before the Governor's fist landed onto the ground

A little disoriented, Jin tried to contact Lance. "This is still new to us, so any ideas fearless leader?"

"We could form the Megazord, but it would take five of us to do it. If only the others were here."

It was then that Lance received a very angry call. "Bout time you showed up!" When he was able to regain some sort of hearing, Lance responded. "Millie? Where are you guys?"

"Running for our lives down here!" For as it turns out the rest of the Rangers were able to beat back Nergal. The downside was that it drew the attention of a good portion of the town. So it was safe to say that it was not the best of situations. Except for Aurox who had to be constantly dragged away from the angry mob. "We'll be with you in a sec." With that, the other four managed to summon their Zords and fly away from their pursuers.

Noticing two new Zords alongside them, Aurox spoke. "I see that you managed to find two new heroes for our quest. A job well done."

Fenris was happy to reinforce that sentiment. "Leave it to our leader to get the job done."

"I still say that it would have been better if we all did this together," Velspro sighed thinking that they really need to work on their teamwork. "Let's just take this guy down so that we can leave."

Lance was quick to respond. "Fine by me. I think it is time to test what the new Zords can do." With that, the Constellation Megazord was formed, with the Taurus and Lycan Zords forming the legs and the Balance and Serpent Zords forming the arms. Millie and Velspro were left on standby to provide additional support.

At first, an exchange of energy fire commenced between the Rangers and the Governor's energy gun, causing damage to the surrounding buildings. However not much damage was done directly at the two giants as the Rangers' standard attacks weren't effective while the Governor's flurry was blocked by Jin's Zord using its disks as shields. With that failing the next attack was a tail swipe which did succeed, knocking the Megazord to the ground. Trying again with his energy gun, the Governor was stopped when Ray used his Zord's serpent configuration to grab the Governor's arm and forcibly make him lose his grip on the gun. With the Megazord managing to stand up again, they were prepared for the next tail swipe as Ray once again used his Zord to grab the tail this time and launch their opponent into the air. It was then that the Rangers powered up their final attack in the form of Jin's disks forming rotating buzzsaws that was thrown to destroy the Governor.

The Rangers were prepared to celebrate their victory, only to be interrupted by a random laser blast onto the back of the Megazord. Wondering where it came from, the Rangers turned around. While relief set in that there wasn't another giant monster, Velspro just realized something. "I don't think we really lost the mob behind us." Then everyone looked down. Just as predicted, there was a giant mob of angry monsters and other residents looking back at them. A bunch of people willing to take them down for the reward money. Not to mention that they just conducted a giant fight in the middle of town.

What immediately followed was a quick succession of monsters enlarging themselves and chasing the Rangers out of town. To be safe, the Rangers disassembled the Megazord and flew straight away from the planet. Afterwards on the way back to the ship, all the Rangers mad e a quick agreement, they were never returning to Onyx again.

* * *

On a distant planet, a mysterious figure covered in robes sat on top of a rock overlooking a barren desert. There was nothing that caught the stranger's eyes while he fidgets around with a small device in his hand. The wind began to pick up sand and dust causing the stranger to prepare to shield himself. And as the wind passed through, it caused the cloth around the stranger's left hand to change position, revealing a peculiar wrist blaster attached to his hand.

* * *

 **A/N:** Surprise, this isn't dead just yet. Been busy with real life and trying to make this not completely awful. There is an ending to all of this, it's just a matter of filling in the little details.


	3. Chapter 3

Episode 3: An Orange Vendetta

Things were mostly quiet aboard the Rangers' ship. Wren told the team that they ever expecting a transfer rendezvous with another ship, so they were going to have to wait a bit for things to be set up. As a result, the Rangers were just passing the time. Lance, Fenris, Millie, and Velspro did it by playing a video game against each other. Jin did it by working on his new paint job, deciding that painting parts of his body in the color of the Rangers' jacket made more sense for him than wearing an actual jacket. Ray's job was there to rein him in whenever Jin decided that he painted either too much or too little of himself. Aurox on the other hand did what he would usually do on his time off, practice on the punching bag to hone his skills.

As the mechanical bull punched the bag, the more his mind drifted away from the other Rangers mingling with each other and towards a particular night. A night in the rain with him cradling a dying man who reached out to the bull before giving his parting words, "I'm sorry that I left you unfinished." With the man's last gasp, Aurox could only feel rage as he curled his hand into a fist and slammed the ground beneath him.

It was then that Aurox snapped out of his daze, as he found himself back on the deck in front of the punching bag. Only to find that he misplaced a punch on his right hand and hit the wall, leaving behind a noticeable hole. Looking and testing his hand to assess any damage, he could only detect that the fingers involuntarily wanted to close themselves into a fist. It was then that he heard Millie's voice aiming at him, "Are you alright there?"

The bull turned around to see the rest of the Rangers looking at him concerned as silence fell onto the deck. "Yeah. Just missed the bag was all. Shouldn't be a problem after some recalibrations." Silence continued to follow as Aurox grabbed a screwdriver to do so. However, a quick glance told Aurox that the Rangers weren't buying it. Turning from them, Aurox reassured them, "Like I said, it's nothing."

The team then heard a booming voice coming from down the hall. "I've been gone for three weeks and you guys already double your numbers? I should probably leave you guys on your own more often then." Everyone looked towards the door when it opened, revealing Wren and another figure. This figure was in the form of what could be best described as a humanoid, purple lizard with small white spikes that acted as if they were sideburns, along with two large white horns protruding from the back of his head. In one hand he was carrying a large suitcase, while on the other was a cane topped with a dragon's head. And on top of it all, he was wearing a large overcoat with a large amount of fur around the collar.

Upon recognizing the figure, Millie quickly shut off the game, to the slight annoyance of the other players, before standing straight and giving a salute. "Commander on deck."

Velspro was more relaxed and took Millie's arm down. "You know you don't have to do that."

Wren went on to introduce the new Rangers to the new arrival. "Everyone, I would like you to meet our commanding officer, Mr. Drake Pendros."

"Now, now. Commander or sir would be just fine. Only my mother calls me mister. Anyway, I have come bearing gifts." Pendros made his way to the table to place the suitcase. "Took a bit of convincing towards High Command, but I finally managed to get these back." Spilling the contents onto the table revealed a collection of multicolored orbs. "The rest of the Cosmic Orbs that we have."

Lance was searching through several of the Orbs, in awe of what each one can do. Jin on the other hand was less than amused. "Wait, so we're going around the universe finding these Orbs when we had them the whole time?"

Wren interjected, "Well the thing is that these Orbs are more like powerups that need the Ranger ones to work. It's always the important ones that have to be tracked down."

Pendros just stared at the robotic girl for stealing his lines. Wren could only do her best to pretend that nothing was wrong. Pendros then just continued to address the team, "Anyway. I got a mission for you." He then pulled up a hologram to accompany the briefing. "We've been getting reports of Jack Matter converting some of the drillships into ground-based platforms. We have no idea what exactly what they are burrowing for, but it is safe to say that they're up to no good. There is an isolated ship far from traditional Jack Matter centers of power. I want all of you to observe and report anything suspicious. Any questions?"

The team spoke in unison, "No sir."

"Good. Then we should leave immediately. Wren, prepare the ship to jump."

"Yes sir." Wren saluted and then went back to the pilot's chair. In a few button presses, the ship's windows were filled with extending white lines where stars used to be as the ship jumped to its destination.

* * *

Sometime later, the Rangers reached at their destination and have set up on top of a hill that had the drillship within sight. All of them were lying on the ground observing the machine. Although with only one pair of binoculars, they shared it amongst themselves. And it there was one thing all of them could agree on, it was that this mission was a lot more boring that they expected.

"It's been two hours and nothing interesting has happened on the ship," Jin said.

"That's not true," Velspro responded, "The green Entrooper and the white one have changed positions."

"There's a green Entrooper?" Fenris asked.

Millie answered. "Yeah, you can tell by the stripes running up their body."

Fenris took another look through the binoculars. "All I see are a blue, white, and yellow one."

Millie had to do a double take. "Wait Fenris, you're colorblind?"

Fenris just gave her a shrug.

Ray made his way into the conversation. "To be fair, Lycan Sirians do have higher rates of red and green color blindness."

This led to Millie to have a realization. "So that's why you used to call Velspro and me as Yellow 1 and Yellow 2."

Lance finally got into the conversation. "Hey, ok if I grab the binoculars?"

Handing the binoculars down the line, Fenris wondered, "Got something new?"

"Not really. Saw a weird rock formation a while back. Just realized now that it is someone in a cloak."

The rest of the team turned to get a closer look of where Lance was looking at. And with that, Velspro grabbed the binoculars to confirm the sighting. There was a person down below, most of it covered by a cloak that matched the coloring of the surrounding rock but clear enough if given a closer look. "Yep, that is a person. What are they doing down there?"

Jin gave an answer. "Maybe he's here enjoying the scenery." This just caused all of the Rangers to turn and look at Jin skeptically. Given that there was nothing here but grey rocks, it wasn't surprising.

Aurox saw it differently. "Looks to me that someone is waiting for a fight."

Ray cut in. "No, doesn't look like it. Even with the getup the Entroopers should have sensed them by now. Add into the fact that there is nothing else on this planet could mean th-. And they're staring right at us."

The Rangers took a quick glance down to see that what Ray said was true causing all but Aurox to quickly lower themselves into the hillside to hide from sight. Velspro was the first to speak. "Great, now what do we do?"

Ray responded. "Best idea is probably relocating to another location."

Jin issued a complaint. "Really? More observation? No offense but this has been as entertaining as watching grass grow."

"Look, Commander Pendros gave us an order to observe, and it is probably going to take longer than two hours to do it. How about we get out of here quietly before we attract anymore trouble and once that is done we can divide up the time each one of us has to go and watch?"

The other Rangers nodded quietly considering that no one else had any other ideas. Lance turned to get the last confirmation. "Guess you're right. What do you say about that Aur-. And he's gone." Apparently, the Rangers didn't keep track of the giant robot and lost him. A quick look around ended with Fenris giving the bull's direction. "Guys, he's heading towards the person down below."

The Rangers raised their heads over the hillside to see just that. "Dang it," Lance said, "Come on, we got to go after him." And so, the rest of the tram went over and quickly followed their teammate.

* * *

A short while later, Aurox reached the bottom of the hill while the rest of the team was still a bit behind. At this point, the bull managed to get a better look at the figure sitting on the rock. It appeared that the cloak covered just about everything except for the person's upper face, hands, and feet. And in one of their hands was a small handheld device with buttons that the person was constantly pressing with their fingers.

Aurox approached the stranger with no subtlety at all. "Excuse me, but I would like to challenge you to a fight." This was accompanied by a bashing of his own fists.

The stranger, having looked at the robot, stood up and uncovered his mouth before taken off the rest of the hood. The figure was revealed to be a man not much older than the rest of the Rangers. The person had brown eyes and black spiked hair that didn't seem to move when the wind was starting to pick up. He was unfazed at the robot's proposal. "And why exactly would I want to do that?"

"Because in the name of justice, only one of us can be here."

The opponent was just perplexed at what the robot was saying. Then he saw the rest of the Rangers catching up from behind. "Friends of yours?"

Aurox turned around to see his teammates, with Lance ready to reprimand him. "Seriously? You can't just jump into something without knowing what you're getting into."

Velspro can only just stare at their fearless leader at that remark. "Coming from the guy who had to learn that lesson last week."

"How many times do I have to apologize? Also, we got Ray and Jin out of it, so it was not a complete disaster."

Before the two could escalate the argument any further, Millie saw something interesting when the wind picked up the stranger's cloak. "Uh guys, you might want to look at this." All the Rangers looked at where Millie was pointing at, to find a similar looking blaster morpher attached to his left arm.

Velspro was quick to speak. "You're a Ranger?"

The stranger was just silent at those words. But there was something else. The back part of his cloak started to rise until the cloak departed revealing something unexpected. It was an orange tail, segmented like an insect with a barb at the end slowly waving in the air.

Upon seeing this, Aurox was reminded again of that night, seeing a barbed tail leaving his sight as it turned a corner. This sent the bull into a rage. "You! You killed him!" Aurox charged at the stranger with Lance quickly following behind, "Hey wait a second!"

Before anyone noticed, the stranger leaped into the air, over Lance and Aurox, to the rest of the Rangers. Before they could get ready to morph, the stranger slashed each of them with his tail and then land behind them. "Things just had to get complicated do they." After that, the stranger just left leaving the remaining Rangers to assess the situation.

Aurox wanted to keep charging at his opponent, but it took most of Lance's strength to just barely hold him back. Looking back at the group Lance shouted, "Is everyone okay?"

Jin responded. "I am. Fortunately stings don't do much on metal. However, the same can't be said about everyone else." Lying around the ground were Millie, Velspro, Fenris, and Ray writing in pain. All four were twisting and contorting in place. Upon closer inspection Jin noticed something more troubling as each of them spouted purple lines on the side of their heads and while it could be trouble with his optics, but it looked like the lines were slowly growing upwards. "We need to get them back the ship quickly!"

* * *

Sometime had past and the four incapacitated Rangers were laid down on any flat surface on the deck. The situation was not looking good. Every joint was beginning to tighten and clench together and the purple lines have already past their eyes and were edging towards the forehead. All previous attempts to treat the toxin have not work. The four did not appear to be severely dehydrated at any point and trying to cool them off from the resulting fever seemed to do nothing.

"We need to do something quick," Wren assessed. "At this rate, the toxin will reach their brain and become fatal. Unfortunately, it seems that the toxin is rare, and we don't have the necessary medicine on board."

Jin was standing by Ray's side throughout all of this. "Well then the answer's simple; we jump to another world and find a cure."

"We can't. We're too deep in enemy space, and even then, they will not survive past the first jump."

During the commotion it was Lance's turn to intervene. "Any chance that the commander can help us? Maybe he knows something."

Wren looked at him with skepticism before giving a try. "Hey sir. Can you help us out here?"

Commander Pendros, sitting in the pilot's chair and deep in thought, responded. "No one interrupt. The buttons are flashing one after the other. I think they are talking to me."

Lance just stared at the absurdity before Wren commented. "He's like this a lot of the time."

"At least he's being more productive than Aurox." Jin looked around the deck, now realizing that the bull didn't follow them rushing towards the deck. "Speaking of which, where is the big bot?"

"I'll go look for him," Lance volunteered.

* * *

Back down on the planet, the unknown assailant was back sitting on a rock and continued to do what he had been doing for the past few hours; clicking on the little box in his hand at seemingly random intervals. There were two min differences after his encounter with the Rangers; he didn't put his hood back on, and he was on a different rock. That was until he noticed two figures approaching behind him. One was the Plantoid commander who was left in charge of the drillship. The other was Nergal who was sent to inspect the progress of the ship project while making amends to Jack Matter for not stopping the Rangers. It wasn't until the two got closer that the assailant was able to make out some of what was being talked about.

"There he is. He's been sitting around doing nothing the whole time he has been here," the Plantoid pointed out. Clearly mad of the assailant's lack of activity.

"Arthro!" Nergal exclaimed, which also got the assailant's attention. "What purpose is there for you to be in the middle of this wasteland?"

Arthro just turned his head back forward towards the distant fields of blasted rock. "I'm on shore leave. I already notified to my superiors, or did Jack never got the message?"

Nergal stepped back a bit at the last comment. "You know the Lord does not like it when someone takes his name in vain."

Arthro responded, all while remaining emotionally cold. "He may be all powerful, but he is not all knowing Nergal. Besides he has nothing to worry about. I'm doing nothing wrong out here."

"Then why did the ship detect seven other lifeforms around you a little while ago?" The Plantoid pointed out, trying to be smug about potentially catching Arthro in some heinous act.

"Some of the local wildlife came up and I felt that it was an excuse to stretch my legs. One should always be honing their skills." Arthro reinforced this by waving his stinger tail in a threatening stance towards the Plantoid. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to return to my thoughts."

While the Plantoid was still snarling, Nergal obliged and made his way back to the drillship. Eventually the Plantoid followed suit, and when they were out of reach of Arthro's ears did he begin to converse. "I don't know why Lord Jack Matter still keeps that human around. If I were him, I would let that one suffer with the rest of his kind."

Nergal sighed, "If the Lord still has use of him then who are we to judge. Besides, the human doesn't take orders from him."

* * *

Lance figured that if Aurox wasn't at his punching bag then the safest bet was that he was in his room. This also slightly intrigued him as Aurox was probably the most mysterious of the Rangers. At least he interacted well with the others or were able to tolerate him in some cases to get a good impression. Outside of official business or team exercises, Aurox tended to do things on his own. Granted with the amount of time the bull spends on the punching bag, Lance wouldn't be surprised if Aurox's room was filled with bodybuilding equipment.

Opening the door, Lance was somewhat surprised at what was in the room. There were some mechanical tools and exercise equipment of course. But what was shocking was that the room was littered with little action figures and posters. All of which depicted various people and aliens dressed and acting like the Rangers. However, these people seemed to display powers far too whimsical for even the more advanced worlds. Some of them even had capes that went all the way down to their feet. Lance couldn't quite make out any of it.

In the middle of the room was Aurox, back turned towards the door and just sitting. Not quite knowing what else to do, Lance opened the conversation. "We were wondering where you went."

The bull, seeming somber for the first time, responded back. "Sorry that I acted the way I did. I thought that I could take care of the problem before anything bad happened."

Lance recalled the incident. It was clear that what history the two shared, it caused the bull to go to a blood rage. Or was it an oil rage? How does it work for robots? "Yeah, was meaning to ask about that. Who was he exactly?"

Aurox turned his head towards Lance, and when he spoke anger was clear in his voice. "That was the man who killed Dr. Ivan, my creator."

* * *

 _Years ago, on the world of Phaedos, an elderly man was working in his lab. Just recently, his latest creation had come to life; a bull robot in the shape of a man. The old scientist himself was not quite a sight to behold. Wrinkles visible all over his face as well as shaggy hair that at various points seemed to protrude out and form like little horns. It was clear that the man was so excited about his creation that he forgone sleep. At least he was still fully dressed; pants and a purple shirt covered by a lab coat._

 _While the robot randomly picked up objects from the nearby table to hold and play around, Dr. Ivan was recording his thoughts on the subject. "The latest tests show that Aurox is able to understand written words and commands. He still has not been able to speak properly, but a few more days of verbal exposure should change that. The biggest drawback is that the personality circuitry turned out to be flawed so he can only understand simple concepts not unlike a baby. As such, it seems that he would have to learn things just like a child. I'll try to find a replacement, but it would be hard to get these days."_

 _The doctor started to turn away to continue to record his thoughts when he heard a cracking sound. Turning around, he realized that Aurox accidently broke one of his tools. The robot, scared that he got caught, tried desperately to put the two halves of the tool back together before the doctor stepped in and stop him. Putting the tool away, the doctor sighed before commenting on the situation, "And it seems that he still doesn't have full control of his strength."_

 _To prevent anymore tools from being broken, the doctor pulled out a tablet for the bull to use. "Here, maybe you can more use with this." After pressing some buttons, he showed Aurox what he wanted to show. The bull pressed his finger onto the screen to reveal that tablet contained a wide assortment of scanned comic books. At first Aurox was more enticed with the colorful drawings than the words. After a few presses, he noticed something that clearly stood out at him. It was a superhero holding the villain over his head while shouting, "Justice always prevails!"_

 _Aurox was fixed on the image when the doctor came by his side and talked to him. "Hoped that would get your attention. It's the reason that you're here. All these reports of evil taking over the universe, I figured that there should be someone out there for people to look up to in these dark times. Someone who can protect the less fortunate and brings justice back to the universe. Do you understand?"_

 _Looking back at the image, Aurox tried to verbalize what was needed of him. "J-Ju-Justice. Yes." With that, Aurox spoke his first words._

 _As time passed, Aurox managed to fully control his strength and the doctor decided that it was time to test him out for combat. He done this by having Aurox spar in alley fights as well as local fighting tournaments. Despite its crudeness, it did allow the bull to acquire combat experience and eventually managed to become a big name in the local fighting scene. Using the collected data, Dr. Ivan hoped that eventually Aurox could be the first of many bull robots to protect the universe. If only he managed to find a complete personality matrix unscathed._

 _However, that all changed in one night._

 _It was raining, and Aurox was returning home after another victorious match. When he turned around the corner towards home he noticed something different. On the other end of the road he saw an orange stinger tail quickly flick its way around the corner of a building and out of sight. When he turned towards the door of the house, he saw it wide open, and from the flash of lightning it was clear that the place was in disarray. Fearing for the worst, Aurox ran towards the house._

" _Doctor? Dr. Ivan!" Aurox took a glance at one of the disheveled rooms before turning around and look at the room behind him, and that was where his worst fears were realized. On the ground was the doctor, crawling on his stomach, with two large gashes the crossed his back. The doctor himself let out a groan and was trying to drag himself closer to the bull._

 _The bull bent down to the doctor's side and adjusted him to see his face, only to see purple veins prominently spread across his face topped with a web of them across the forehead. "Dr. Ivan please. There must be a way to help you."_

" _It's too late for me," the doctor said weakly. "I'm afraid that it is time for you to go on your own." While his eyes were becoming weak from the toxin, he was able to see that the bull was shaking his head and muttering 'no' over and over. He couldn't blame him. There was just so much more to do. But feeling death coming for him soon, and as he reached out to touch the bull's face, the doctor needed to say one more thing. "I'm just, sorry. I'm sorry that I left you unfinished." With that, his eyes closed, and his hand lifelessly fell to the ground._

 _As the rain and lightning continue to pour down, Aurox felt both sadness and anger. The doctor did nothing wrong and yet someone went out and killed him for no reason. In rage, his right hand closed into a fist and slammed into the floor of the house. "I will avenge you doctor. I will rid the universe of the monster who took you away. I will deliver them to justice, even if it leads me to the dark pits of the universe." It was then that an unnatural light appeared in front of him. green lightning sprouted from the ground around him into a singular point. And after a few seconds, the lightning materialized a small object in front of his face. A black orb with the face of a bull._

* * *

"That's how I got the Orb," Aurox said having finished recounting his story. "I have tried to track down the perpetrator over the years without much luck. Now that he is here, I can finally correct that injustice."

Lance was slightly taken aback by the bull's story. This was the first time he saw Aurox being somber rather than his usual boisterous self. "I'm not quite sure that's the entire story." For some reason, something just didn't feel right. "He can't be all terrible. He does have a morpher after all."

"He obviously took it from its intended user." Aurox was unwilling to think of an alternative. The orange tail, the same toxic effects that appeared on the Doctor and now the other Rangers just confirmed it.

"You don't know that."

Aurox just gave a cold and emotionless response, "He killed the doctor, it's enough."

To the surprise of the two, the overhead speakers filled with Wren's voice. "The commander wants everyone to go back down the planet."

Hearing that, Aurox shot up and went straight towards the door, completely ignoring Lance while doing so. Realizing what the robot was going to do, Lance turned on the communicator on his morpher while chasing after him. "Wren, tell Jin to come to my position quickly. I'm going to need some help with Aurox."

* * *

Sometime later, the three remaining Rangers were back on the planet. Aurox was still stomping around looking for the orange tailed assailant. Although, without any actual idea of where he might be, the search took a bit longer than what Aurox was expecting. Lance continued to try to talk the bull down to no avail. And when Jin finally managed to catchup, his idea of trying to physically slow the bull resulted with lance and Jin being pushed to the ground without much effort.

Once the two got themselves back up, they continued to trail Aurox but at a slower pace. All the while Jin was trying to figure out Lance's logic. "Still don't know why you're trying to stop him. If it were me, I would be doing the same thing." Jin's thoughts went back to Ray still succumbing to the effects of the poison.

Lance, still though, was relying on his hunch. "I still don't think that we know the whole story. Besides, the guy has a Cosmic Morpher, that has to mean something."

"You do realize that there have been Rangers that have gone bad before, right?"

"Even so, would it be better to ask him some things first before blowing him up?"

The two suddenly heard Aurox letting out a loud bellow. Looking slightly ahead of the bull the two found out why, Aurox found his target. Aurox then picked up his pace to charge towards the assailant.

"Crap. We gotta stop him." With that, Lance went to a sprint to catch up to Aurox.

Jin on the other hand sighed. "Still don't think this is a good idea." Jin started to run as well except that he found himself tripping and falling face first to the ground. Jin let out a groan, "What the-" It was then he noticed that his foot was caught on something. Upon closer inspection it seemed to be a handle. Once he pulled on it, it revealed a black briefcase that was submerged in the dirt. Curious, Jin opened the case, "What do we have here?"

* * *

Aurox finally managed to find who he was looking for. The doctor's murderer right in front of him, and the assailant was sitting on a rock like before. The assailant's mere presence in front of him made Aurox fume with rage. "Hey, you!" With a clashing of his fists Aurox continued. "It's time to finally give you the justice that you deserve."

Arthro, still not giving his full attention, gave a response, "And what would that be for?"

"For killing the doctor." Reaching for his Orb, Aurox continued. "The only way to repay it is with your end."

"Wait!" Lance finally managed to catch up. "You don't have to do this."

"Yes I do! For the doctor, the universe will be better off without him." With that, Aurox placed his Orb into his morpher to get ready to fight. "Cosmic powers, Activate!"

Arthro's interest had piqued as he slowly stood up from his rock. "So, you've come to avenge your creator? I'm afraid that you're just wasting your time." With that, he revealed that he had an orange Orb in his hand. One that held an image of a scorpion. He then placed the Orb into his morpher and began the sequence. "Cosmic powers. Activate!"

A blinding light caused both Aurox and Lance to cover their eyes, and when the light faded revealed that Arthro's morpher was the genuine thing. He was now clothed in an orange Ranger suit with his visor forming the visage of a scorpion. His stinger tail was still visible and seemed to be ready for an attack. And in hand was a spear not unlike the Rangers' other weapons in design.

Without warning, Aurox readied his axe and charged towards the Orange Ranger. Arthro took a small step back, but he regained focus and was able to block the axe. A few strikes occurred between the two until they started to move away from the initial fight scene.

Lance readied his Orb to try to find someway to stop the two. That was until he heard the loud screeching of Photon Fighters off in the distance. Sure enough, a pair of them were heading his direction, possibly detecting his, Aurox's, and Jin's presences earlier. "I don't have time for this."

* * *

Back on the Ranger ship, things were getting dire. The four affected Rangers were slowly becoming paralyzed to the point that they were having a hard time to even breathe. More purple lines have begun to circle around the tops of their heads as the toxin started to seep into their brains.

Wren continued to try to help them, but the constant running around has not helped matters. This was further agitated by Commander Pendros still not doing anything. At least with him finally getting out of the pilot's chair, he could do something right now. "Sir. I would really appreciate it if you can help us right now."

Pendros turned towards her. "Sure thing. What is it that you need me to d-" He then realized that something was amiss. "Have you done something with your hair?"

Wren felt annoyance when hearing that. Mainly because as a robot her hair is set as it is. "You're doing this on purpose aren't you?"

It was then that Jin came through the door with the black briefcase. "Guys! You would not believe what I found."

Wren was not willing to play along. "Unless it's a cure, I'm not interested."

"Lucky that you mentioned that because that's what this is." Opening the case, the gold robot procured two vials containing blue liquid. "There's enough here for everyone."

The two robots were then spooked when Pendros slammed the table, almost causing Jin to drop the two vials in his hand. "Excellent! Jin, you'll help me administer the cure." Pendros then tossed Wren something from his pocket. "Wren, I'm going to need you to give this to the others on the planet."

Wren had to do a double take on that last order. Rarely if ever has she been able to leave the ship, let alone ordered to. After all, someone had to look over the ship while the others were away. Also going into what could be the middle of a battle unarmed was not what she had in mind. "I-I am suppose to do what?"

"You heard me. Now get to it." Wren quickly nodded in agreement before making her way towards the door. "Oh, you'll probably get there faster if you can fly down there."

Wren raised her eyebrow at that, "You do know I have-" It was then that she had started to see some flashing images. At first, they appeared too fast to get a clear picture, but they eventually slowed down enough to do so. It appeared to be of two birds, one being a light brown predatory bird that was flying higher and higher while the other was larger and white as snow that seemed to be suspended midair. As the white bird began to descend onto a field of fire, an endless swarm of vultures flew down towards it, all filled with insatiable bloodlust and hunger.

The next thing Wren knew, she was back on the deck, hand placed on her forehead as she shook herself from what she just saw. While wondering to herself of what just happened, she heard Pendros talking to her while his back was turn helping the afflicted Rangers. "What was that Wren? You didn't forget how to fly didn't you?"

Wren finally snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh, no I haven't sir. I'll be on my way."

* * *

Back on the surface, Lance was struggling to stave off the waves of enemies coming his way. At first, he did fine, even managed to luckily shoot down a Photon Fighter with his morpher. Unfortunately, that just drew in more Entroopers to his location and they're starting to get the upper hand. Not helped by the foot soldiers starting to use the blasters built into their swords en masse. It got to the point in which he was trapped in a circle of them. Readying his Ranger sword and trying to figure out his next move, he started to wonder how Orion made fighting a hundred enemies at once seem easy.

It was then he heard a screaming female voice that was getting louder with each passing second. Looking towards the direction of the voice he saw Wren flying erratically. It was then that he realized that one of her feet was periodically producing exhaust, while the other one was not doing anything. Wren finally managed to get onto the ground, or more specifically crashed. Which was fortunate as she crashed at an Entrooper that was trying to strike Lance from behind without him noticing. He then helped up his robotic comrade. "Wren, what are you doing here?"

Trying to get rid of her dizziness she spoke weakly. "Realizing that I need more practice with my rocket boots." Finally managed to steady herself, she was quick to remember why she was there. "Oh right, I was supposed to give this to you." Unwrapping the object, Lance realized that it was a Cosmic Orb, though this one showed an image that he wasn't familiar with.

Lance asked, "Do you any idea what this does?"

"No, but best to use it now while we still can," Wren said quickly when she noticed the Entroopers slowly coming towards them.

Quick to oblige, Lance placed the Orb into his morpher and activated it. Suddenly, an exact copy of Lance in his Ranger form appeared. After a few moments of testing a few things, it became clear that the copy was able to move about on its own. Wren was no less frightened by the implications. "There are too many questions to ask."

Lance felt the opposite. "Doesn't matter. Now we have the upper hand. Is that right partner?"

His duplicate gave a thumbs up. "You got it. Now let's finish these tin cans." And with that the two Red Rangers charged into the group. While both Lances were able to cut through the Entroopers easily, Wren had to resort with dodging and accidently running into Entroopers that were trying to take a bite out of her. Though to her credit it managed to take some of them down. Once the battle was over, the two Lances gave each other a high five before the clone dissipated into thin air. After that, Lance heard Jin's voice coming from his speakers.

"Lance, can you hear me?"

"Yay I hear you. Where have you been anyway?"

That just allowed Jin to gloat. "Fortunately for everyone, this magnificent golden robot stumbled upon a cache of antidote for the team so there's that." Then that gloating slowly turned to panicking. "Also, I was told to tell you that something big is heading our way." Seeing a giant shadow overcoming him, Lance turned to see what it was and it turned out to be the drillship hovering close to him and Wren.

Lance then heard the voice of the Plantoid commander blasting into the air. "You think that was the best I can do Ranger? You may have bested my troops, but you won't defeat me. Witness the true might of Jack Matter!" Suddenly, the entire drillship twisted and turn in the air before landing onto the group revealing itself as a giant robot with parts of it even turning into a spear.

Wren sighed, "Of course it turns into a giant robot."

Recognizing that this was a fight that he can't handle by himself, Lance talked back to his communicator. "Jin, please tell me that the others are ready to get into their Zords."

Jin responded, "Most of us are. Millie needs extra time to recover, and we haven't been able to get a hold of Aurox. And it looks like its turning its eyes onto the ship."

"Alright, we just gonna have to fight with what we have. Wren is going to have to stick with me for the time being." Realizing what he meant Wren nodded while Lance called for his Zord.

* * *

Not so far away, Aurox and Arthro were still fighting with each other. Despite his best efforts, Arthro's attempts to turn the duel around failed. Aurox repeatedly swung his axe towards him and any attacks from his tail only deflected from the bull's metal hide. Eventually the attacks were too much as while Arthro tried to step back from the final axe swing, he misstep and fell with his back to the ground. Trying to push himself up, he only saw the head of an axe pointed directly towards him.

Aurox, emotionlessly, spoke. "Confess fiend, and I will make your end quick and painless."

"What's there to confess when you already know what happened."

"So, you don't deny it." With that, Aurox readied his axe for the final strike. But that was when Arthro continued to speak.

"Is this what you think the doctor would want? To kill someone in the name of justice?"

"Even so, he would want his death avenged."

Arthro then asked, "And what of your teammates? Would they want you to run off while they have to fight a greater threat?"

After hearing those words, Aurox finally focused on the ongoing chatter that he picked up in his helmet. It was the others talking about trying to take down a giant robot with the Megazord. Turning his head around, he could see the fight off in the distance. He then realized what he had just done. All his efforts for revenge for the doctor caused him to lose the bigger picture. His actions have caused to Rangers to fight on fruitlessly. And what's worse, he almost cost some of them their lives. Far from the sense of justice that he was meant to symbolize. He turned to where he left the orange figure, only to see that he was gone. Reaching for his Orb to call his Zord, he only had one thing to say. "This isn't over."

* * *

The fight with the drillbot was going nowhere. The bot's spear also acted as a shield against the Megazord's sword and buzz saw attacks, and on top of that they just found out that the thing can fire laser beams from its weapon and mouth.

Currently tumbling around after narrowly dodging an attack Lance was desperate for a solution. "Anyone got any ideas?"

Ray was the first one to respond. "We can try to swap Jin and my Zord positions to hold the robot's weapon in place, but I don't think it'll give us time to do it."

Velspro added to that. "Best chance is to create a distraction. However, Millie is still recovering so we can't get her to call her Zord."

Fenris almost had a bright idea. "Wren, how about you fly out there and distract him for us?"

Wren was quick to respond. "I'm not going out there alone against that thing thank you very much!"

Lance followed suit. "There got to be something that can be done."

It was then they heard Aurox's voice. "Justice Slam!" The next thing they knew, the Taurus Zord flew in and headbutted the drillbot from behind. "Sorry for the delay. Had to be returned to my senses."

Lance was just happy to see him. "No problem, you came in just at the right time." With the drillbot disoriented, Jin and Ray were able to swap positions so that the Serpent Zord formed an arm and the Balance Zord forming a leg. When the bot recovered, it suddenly found its weapon grabbed by a snake's head and pulled straight towards the Megazord, which was then greeted by a swordfish strike to the face. With that, the bot fell lifelessly before exploding in a giant inferno.

* * *

Sometime has passed and the Rangers have returned to the ship, although Commander Pendros wasn't on deck with them. Millie finally recovered from the effects of the toxin, but Velspro still made some soup for her just in case. "Thanks for the soup. Though I still feel bad for not being able to help out there."

The Aquitian put his hand on her shoulder and reassured her. "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad that you're alright."

Meanwhile, the others were assessing the situation involving their assailant being a Ranger. Fenris was the first to speak his mind. "It's a shame that one of our own would go and follow the likes of Jack Matter. Another one of his lackeys to get rid of it seems."

"I still don't think so." Lance commented. "All of us were picked to be Rangers. And it's not like all of us have done things that others would see as questionable. Why is his case any different?"

Ray concurred. "On top of that, there are somethings that just doesn't make sense." Although in his case, it was less on Arthro and more on the fact that when the others were sick, the cure just so happened to appear out of nowhere.

Aurox gave his answer. "Because he at least did something reprehensible. He took a good man from the universe. Sooner or later he would have to answer for his crimes."

Lance got worried. "Don't tell me you're going to go search for him again."

The bull answered. "No. I realized that my quest for revenge blinded me from the bigger picture. That my fight for justice is with all of you to save the universe, not just for the doctor. But make no mistake, if we ever cross paths again, when time allows it, this vendetta will end one way or another."

* * *

Arthro opened the door and saw Nergal speaking with the giant hologram of Jack Matter. Due to convenience, he had to hitch a ride with Nergal to get off world. Especially since the loss of the Plantoid and the drillbot left him with no alternatives. While he intruded onto the conversation, Jack Matter didn't seem to mind and continued speaking. "It's a shame on the commander's loss, but the data is in safe hands I hope."

Nergal complied. "Yes milord. A copy was made before his departure." He then entered the data onto the computer for Jack Matter to receive.

"Good. At least the entire endeavor was not a total loss." Jack Matter then turned towards Arthro. "And I assume that your shore leave on the planet was productive for your wellbeing."

Nergal turned angrily towards Arthro while he bowed to the hologram. "Yessir. It's unfortunate though that the commander died. By the time I heard about it, it was too late."

Jack Matter simply waved it off. "Circumstances seems to get us away from more important things. Right Nergal?"

Nergal quickly responded. "Uh, yes of course milord. But one can simply see it as just another way to serve."

Jack Matter let out a small smile. "Is that so? In any case, you are free to hunt down the Rangers again. Though I expect you to take out at least one of them this time. Your chances are getting dimmer." As such, his hologram faded away.

Nergal turned back to Arthro. "I still don't buy your excuse. You just so happen to be out of range?"

"I was busy. And besides, it's no less believable that yours: you two arguing enough for the commander to kick you out."

Nergal hissed at that. "Be happy that you are not under my command or I would have sent you to some forgotten rock far from combat, human." With that, Nergal exited the room while Arthro stood there absorbing Nergal's words.


	4. Chapter 4

Episode 4: Prelude to a Dream

 _Nighttime fell over the fields of a distant world. A small group of people were gathering together for some kind of ceremony. All were dressed in white robes, and everyone was currently talking among themselves, with many of them seemingly having a good time._

 _However at least one in the crowd was not really paying attention. One little girl just seemed lost in all the commotion. She spent the time aimlessly going through the forest of strangers when she was not being interrupted to talk to them. The only other she could recognize was her grandfather, but he was the one who was leading the event, so he was busy._

 _It was pretty clear that she didn't want to be there. She didn't even know what this ceremony was even about. But she was told that it was tradition, and that it was expected of someone of her status. But to her, like many recent things, it mostly translated as it going to be really long and boring. But it was too late now, and as the family heir she might as well try to pretend that she knows what she is doing lest she brings dishonor to the family or something._

 _So continued her walk through the crowd to pass the time, that was until she finally saw a familiar face. Also perusing through the crowd was a boy who was the same age as her and with black hair. She recognized him from her classes, although admittedly they rarely interacted outside of school so she wasn't expecting that he would recognize her. So, it came as a surprise that upon seeing her, the boy gave a friendly wave. He then made his way through the crowd to get closer to her._

 _The boy started the conversation. "Hey."_

" _Hey." She tried her best to keep her composure and try not to look overly surprised. "What are you doing here?" She passively remembered something about him being from another house, but she thought it was of minor standing._

 _If the question came across as aggressive, it fell on deaf ears on the boy's end. "I was forced to be here. Came here last year, and with dad offworld I have to 'represent the family'."_

 _Eventually, the two continued to discuss various things; how was their day, what did they do after school, which teacher's voice has given them nightmares, and so forth. As time went on, the girl began to think about how much she enjoyed the boy's company. TShe even laughed at some of his jokes._

 _The boy managed to snap the girl away from her thoughts with a question, "Hey, you wanna get away from here?"_

 _The girl was a bit apprehensive. "Huh? Wouldn't the others notice that we'll be gone? Also, I don't think that my grandpa would like it if I just leave."_

 _Realizing of what she meant, the boy quickly reassured her. "Don't worry. The adults wouldn't notice. Done it last year and managed to sneak out without anyone caring. Not even my dad had a clue, and he was sitting next to me. Plus, I just want to show you something. It's close enough that we can still see everybody. And we can quickly run back if we need to."_

 _The girl was still in doubt. She didn't want to get into trouble, and this felt like a big deal if her talks with grandpa were anything to go by. However, a way out of a long, drawn out ceremony seemed appealing. On top of that it would give her a chance to hang out with the boy more. She figured that her familial responsibilities could wait for the time being._

 _The boy led her to the nearby hills, using only one of the ceremonial candles to light the way, being careful not to give away their position to the adults down below. The girl was trying her best to catch up, but the rocks were not making it easy. Not to mention having longer robes than him as well as uncomfortable shoes. Eventually, the boy stopped on top of the highest hill and extended his hand to help the girl finish the climb. The sight she saw was peacefully calm. She could hear the soft crashing of waves from the nearby beach, and off in the distance was the lights of the city in the distance which surprisingly didn't obscure the night sky full of stars._

 _She just wanted to savor the moment. It had been a long while since she had a quiet moment all to herself. Far away from the responsibilities forced on her as of late. Far from the constant lectures of how to be a proper lady and future head of the house. Far from the constant reminders of the fact that they are no longer … maybe not everything can be solved with just peace and quiet. She noticed a tear falling down her face and quickly did her best to clean it off. She didn't need this right now, knowing that they won't be coming back: mom, dad._

 _The boy gently placed his hand on her shoulder. When she turned towards him, she saw a worried look on his face. "You okay?"_

 _The girl tried her best to calm down before giving her answer. "Yeah, it's nothing. You wanted to show me something?"_

 _Grabbing her hand, he led her to a small hole that was nearby a tree sapling and nearly covered with grass. At first the girl wasn't impressed, until the boy cleared away some dirt at which a green light began to emanate from it. She never seen anything like it, nor had she read it from the myriad of books that she had to read. She turned to the boy wanting an answer. "What is it?"_

 _The boy just shrugged. "I don't know. But it's fun to play with." He showed this by holding his hand just above the hole at which point it sent out little bolts of green electricity towards his hand. However, instead of shocking him, his laughter indicated a more tickling feeling. He then took her hand again and placed it towards the hole which led to additional green lightning to go towards her hand. The tickling sensation caused her to giggle, and her turning and moving her hand and fingers around did nothing to interrupt the lightning coming out._

 _The boy continued. "Found this last year, and I come back every now and then whenever I'm bored."_

" _And you wanted to show me this because?"_

 _The boy just shrugged. "Thought that you were a cool person to show this with."_

 _The girl felt a bit happy at the thought. "Well, tell me the next time you want to come here. We could make this into a secret spot, just the two of us." She did not realize what she just said as she tilted her head in confusion when the boy had to turn away. She barely missed the redness that crept onto his face._

 _Following that the boy tried his best to act cool about it. "Uh, yeah. Sure. Whenever you feel like it would be alright." He then remembered that he left out the best part. "Oh, one more thing. I need you to sit at the other side." After the girl did what he said, he continued. "If you relax and concentrate for a bit, you can actually here the hole talking."_

 _The girl was skeptical about this but since she was here, she might as well try it. She copied what the boy was doing; sitting cross legged, hands together, and eyes closed. A few breaths in and she hasn't heard a thing. A little bit later, after clearing her mind a bit more, she started to hear faint whispers. As she concentrated on what the whispers were saying, the voices grew slightly louder. Eventually she was able to make out one word, "Protect."_

* * *

Wren immediately woke up, nearly jumping out of her chair before rubbing her eyes while waiting for them to return to optimal performance. When she looked up, it took her a minute to remember where she was. Then it dawned on her that she was sitting in the pilot's chair all by herself, everyone else was either asleep or doing something else on the ship. She didn't know if this was either good or bad. These flashes were becoming more frequent. And if the latest one was any indication, it seemed that she was now glimpsing at someone else's life. None of this made sense to her. She was a machine, built and programmed to be a pilot. Who would have thought putting random flashes into her was a good idea?

Looking at the room, she wondered if she should tell anyone about this. The visions were already freaking her out as it is, and they now seem to be getting worse. Maybe someone on the ship could figure out what is going on. Maybe … no, she would most likely be sent for away for diagnostics and repair, far from the Rangers and at worst be considered worthy for decommissioning. This seemed to be far from the occasional glitch and she doesn't want to be separated from the only family that she has known. No, she would figure out a way to control this on her own. With the resources of the ship it seemed like a possibility.

Wren turned around and went back to focusing on steadying the ship. That was when she heard a familiar sound behind her. Turning around, she saw the Orb Detector signaling to the location of a new Cosmic Orb.

* * *

 **A/N:** This part went longer than expected so have to cut it off from the last chapter. Might do something like this again if there's more supplemental stuff.


	5. Chapter 5

Episode 5: A Dream on Pink Wings

From out of the blackness of space, the Rangers' Ship exited out of another jump, ready to take on any foe. The Rangers that were on deck, not so much. All the organic members were holding onto anything that was bolted down, as they all appeared nearly drained with their legs ready to give out. Even the robots weren't in any better shape as all three just seemed to just want the trip to stop.

Fenris was currently resting his hands and head on top of one of the railings with Aurox by his side. "Please tell me that's the last one."

Lance, leaning on the back of his chair, raised his head. "If we're lucky, that ought to be."

Everyone just looked at the Orb Detector in silence. For a brief few seconds, everyone's hopes were raised. That was until the Detector started to flash again causing everyone to collapse and groan in defeat. Millie was barely able to push herself off the floor, having to use the rail columns to hold herself up. "Seriously!? That was the eighth jump in the last two hours. Can't the thing just give us a break?"

Velspro was slumped down by the stairs that led to the table at the center of the deck. "I agree. Doing this many jumps this quickly does not do wonders to our health." He turned his head and winced, trying to ignore Ray spilling his guts out at a nearby trashcan.

Jin, having quickly gotten up from lying down on the floor, couldn't take it anymore. "While we wouldn't be in this predicament if it wasn't for two things that spring to mind."

Wren spun around the pilot's chair and innocently defended herself. "It's not my fault. I'm only jumping us to where the Detector wants us to go."

"Then it's this hunk of junk." Jin then went to loudly bang on the Detector. "We've been following its exact coordinates and all it does is keep telling us to go straight."

Commander Pendros, having his face planted on the table, raised it and then turned to where the Detector indicated. Interestingly it pointed towards the pilot's chair. Pendros started to have an idea before shaking his head. "You're probably right and considering that none of us are in the best shape, I suggest that we take a break. Wren, is there a habitable planet nearby?"

"There is one, but it's under Jack Matter's control."

"Guess that's going to have to do." With that he pointed to Lance, Fenris, Aurox, Millie, and Velspro. "I want you five to go down to the planet and do a supply run." The five, when they were able to finally stand up, complied and made their way to the door. Pendros then turned towards Ray and Jin. "You two stay here and try to fix the bloody thing. Also, there is another project I want you to do afterwards."

Jin was helping Ray up when he asked the natural question. "I assume that breaking this into a million pieces is out of the question?"

"There's a manual under the table." Wren waved as she was paying the least amount of attention as possible with Pendros' orders. Every time something like this happens it was always the same; stay behind and pilot the ship, nothing else. Which then brought back memories of being in the fight with Lance, which at least got her out of the ship. Strangely enough the more she thought about it, the more the memory appealed to her more. Sure, she spent most of the time dodging enemy fire, but it still felt exhilarating.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Wren's mind drifted off towards something else. She suddenly saw an open blue sky, and off in the distance was a pink figure who seemed to be giggling. A quick flash drew Wren closer and that's when she saw that the figure was a pink Power Ranger who was supported by two large pink wings. The Ranger was enjoying herself as she performed various aerial tricks and taking down her foes with ease. Curious as to who this mysterious Ranger was, Wren's question was answered with the next flash. The Ranger took off her helmet to reveal Wren's face, giving off a happy expression upon doing so. And with that Wren snapped back to reality, thinking about what just happened. "Ok, that was weird."

She then heard Pendros' voice. "Wren, I need to speak to you." Getting up, Wren could only think of what the commander wanted. Probably another report to compile. But strangely enough, Pendros threw her for a curveball. "I need you to go down to the planet as well."

"…What?"

"But of course. I have full confidence that you will be able to carry this mission out. This is not one to be taken lightly, as it is a matter of great importance that I can only entrust to you."

Wren was still processing what the commander was saying. But what she had been picking up was surely enticing. She was filled with hope and glee as she continued to hear the commander's speech. She could have sworn to feel massive glimmers shining in her eyes.

That was until Pendros revealed what the mission was about. "I need you to bring me some plums."

Wren's hopes and dreams just seemed to shatter at that moment. "Uh… what?"

"I have a bet going on with one of the other cells about if there was any fruit that has a darker complexion than mine." The commander smiled while pointing to his purple skin. "If you could prove that not even the plums are as purple as me you can settle this bet once and for all, and save me twenty Space Bucks."

If Wren had the necessary parts, her face would have clearly expressed pent up rage. "Plums," she thought, "The commander's sending me down just for plums? For a bet!?" The Rangers were already going down there so what's the point of sending her? Fortunately, or unfortunately, she knew better than to smack Pendros then and there. With that she just sighed. "Affirmative sir."

* * *

The Rangers had landed in the mountains at the outskirts of town. As such, they had to travel the long way by foot. The long walk was rather calming all things considered. Just a winding dirt road surrounded by all sides by flat green plains. Not that most of the Rangers seemed to notice. Velspro was checking the list of the ship's supplies, Lance and Aurox mostly just focused on the path ahead, and Fenris was more bored of the fact that there were no Jack Matter forces nearby to fight. Millie was the only one that seemed to appreciate the scenery around them. It had been a while since the Rangers could just go to a planet without having to do some official business. And the mere idea of being able of being on another world always intrigued her, even if many of the worlds the Rangers traveled to seemed to be the same. For a brief second, Millie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying the idea of breathing in fresh, alien air while feeling the wind blow through her blond hair.

Still feeling bored, Fenris tilted his head back so that the rest of the group appeared upside down. "So, how long is the grocery list this time?"

Velspro lifted his head from looking at the list. "Actually, it doesn't look like we need much down here. Asides from some redundant food stocks, nothing serious. Should be a quick and easy in and out."

"In other words, another dull errand hunt," Fenris huffed.

Lance tried to cheer him up. "Don't be so down. We could just fight off Jack Matter's forces on the side while down here." Millie and Velspro just glanced at each other hearing that. Both were not willing to do a repeat of Onyx. As such, Millie tried to change the subject. "There might be something interesting to see down here. After all, there's a whole planet for us to explore. And we don't know how long it'll be for the Detector to be fixed."

Fenris felt to counteract that suggestion. "Look around you. There is close to nothing in this green open space. If I learned that the planet was this barren I would have just stayed on the ship."

It was when the Rangers passed by a farm that they heard some crates crashing followed by an audible groan. Turning to the source of the noise, they saw a man chasing after what could be best described as creatures that looked like a cross between a lizard and a chicken. It was walking on all fours, with its back legs looking like a chicken's and its forearms appearing to be wings. They were mostly covered in scales aside from the head, neck, tail, and upper portion of the legs which were covered by feathers. And on the creatures' head were prominent red combs and a beak on each of the creatures' mouth.

"It's probably best that we help him don't you agree?" Lance said as he made his way to the farm. He was soon followed by Aurox who agreed with the Red Ranger, while Fenris came along just to break up the monotony of walking the endless pathway.

"Well, it's something." Millie couldn't think of what else to say about the situation.

Velspro shrugged it off. "I mean, it wouldn't hurt. Plus, the list is short so might as well do something in the meantime." With that, the Aquitian followed suit.

Millie couldn't find an objection to that. Also, as a Ranger, they are meant to save the day. No matter how small or absurd it would be. As such she joined them.

The farmer managed to tackle one of the creatures to the ground as another one close to him ran off. Only for it to go into Lance's hands as he picked it up. "Need a hand?" he asked.

The farmer was elated at the proposal. "Thanks, that will be a big help. Just pick them up and put them into the coop." With that the others went on to catch the remaining creatures. As they gathered them up, the farmer noticed the morpher on Lance's wrist. "You guys are Power Rangers." This caused everyone to pause for a moment, not quite knowing what to do next. Upon realizing of what they were afraid of, the farmer laughed it off. "Oh, don't worry. I'm not going to tell anyone. Too far off to bother anyway."

Breathing a sigh of relief, the Rangers went back to work. However, when Fenris got a hold of one of the creatures, his fingers were too close to the thing's mouth and it bit him. "Nasty little things. How can anyone deal with them?"

The farmer took the one from Fenris, and lead it back into the coop. "Yeah, should have warned you about that. Monitor chickens tend to have a nasty attitude when they are being ordered around. Real pain in the neck if you ask me."

Millie just continued to pet the monitor chicken in her arms. "I take it that you're not a fan of them."

"Only when their food. Sadly, I'm a cooper, so it's my job to take care of them."

Velspro was confused at that remark. "Wait, I thought a cooper was someone who worked on barrels."

The cooper sighed. "Oh, they do. It's just that well, the planetary governor has a 'unique' way of placing people in their preferred fields. As such, I've been put in charge of the monitor chicken coops around here."

The Rangers looked at each other baffled by what the farmer just said. Lance continued, "Have you ever tried to tell him no?"

"Trust me I tried. But the governor believes that everyone has a specific job to do and just laughs off any other suggestions." As he said that, the cooper led the last of the creatures into the door of the coop before closing the door. "Thanks again for the help. And once again, you don't have to worry about me. Figured that you might beat some sense into the guy."

Lance returned the gratitude. "We appreciate it. Although, we would appreciate it more if you can tell us if we're anyway close to town."

The cooper pointed towards the road. "It's a little more than a mile that way. Maybe another fifteen to twenty minutes." This just gave Fenris an accuse to groan again.

* * *

Sometime later, the Rangers finally managed to reach the town and proceeded on their grocery hunt. During that time, the Rangers continued to hear stories like the cooper's; that is, they were given roles that they generally were not suited to do. It was clear from the residents' tone that they weren't happy about it at all.

Soon the team met up at the center of town with most of them sitting while Velspro took a final check of the list. They mostly talked about the various stories they heard. This got to the point in which they heard one of Fenris's. "I heard one guy say that him being a dentist was the excuse for the governor to make him fix car dents. How does that work?"

"Badly is the correct term." Velspro replied offhandedly.

Aurox added his two cents. "I say that we set this town free from the clutches of evil."

"I'm afraid that it's probably not a good idea to do so," Velspro responded.

Lance turned around. "How can you say that? Isn't part of being a Ranger saving the downtrodden from the monsters that would cause them pain and misery?"

Velspro just had to point out their situation. "I would like to point out that being in the middle of Jack Matter territory means that they can shoot down our ship easily if we do something that brash. And we don't exactly know where the governor of this place is. Unless the whole place goes up in arms, it would be better to save everyone once we take out the entire Jack Matter leadership."

"You must be really fun to be around at parties," Lance said mindlessly.

"Velspro is just trying to think reasonably," Millie said. "And besides, it's not like the bad guys would show up when we want them too."

It was then they heard Nergal's loud, threatening voice fill the air. "You think of us so lowly that we would respond to your command?" The five looked to see where the voice came from only to see a bunch of Entroopers emerge from the alleys and other hidden places which also caused all the civilians present to scatter in different directions. As the Entroopers encircled the group, the Rangers responded by forming a circle to cover their flanks. It was then that Nergal himself came forth, along with a figure that the Rangers haven't seen before. This one looked like a big, pink crocodile with a pot belly sticking out and with blue sheets of clothing lazily draped all over him. This creature, Pepto Blasto was quick to follow Nergal's lead. "In fact, it was you who showed up when we wanted you to do. Now you will pay for your cattle rustling or whatever it is you people do." This just caused confusion on Nergal's part.

While the two still tried to make it feel like a trap was sprung. All Millie could think about was what Pepto Blasto was wearing. "I'm can't be the only one thinking that this guy looks like he's covered in melted ice cream, right?"

Pepto Blasto just felt offended. "Hey! I resent that remark! As such, you'll be the first to tremble before me."

As the enemy moved closer, Fenris brought up something. "What do you say? Should we morph?" It was then that some of the Entroopers started to charge.

Velspro was quick to respond. "No time. Just fight!" With that, all five Rangers went fighting unmorphed. All five did their best to take down the minions, often using the surrounding environment to their advantage.

At one point, Lance faced off against Nergal. Quickly dodging every swing from Nergal's weapon. Eventually Lance got pinned to the wall by the weapon's shaft. Nergal then began to talk with glee. "At long last. With this, our long-seeded fight will come to an end and the Power Rangers will be no more. I will return to my master's good graces and the universe will tremble before me!"

It was then with a slight confusion that Lance realized something. "Who are you again?"

Nergal growled at his opponent's cluelessness of him. He then pushed Lance to the ground with his weapon before using it to fire an energy slash at Lance. Fortunately for the Red Ranger, he managed to dodge the attack before standing up again and started fighting again.

The other Rangers managed to fend off the enemy well on their own. At one point, Aurox grabbed an Entrooper before spouting a line, "Ready to be a shooting star?" He then hurled the Entrooper up in the air, over the roofs, and who knows where.

* * *

At another part of town, Wren was walking with her head down towards the ground and just not feeling great. Not from the plums, she managed to find those rather easily. This was mostly from the fact that Pendros sent her to do something so mundane and pointless. "Could have gotten these from any planet that we stopped at," Wren muttered, "but no, it has to be from this one specific world while the others have more important things to do."

She was also thinking about her being stuck in her role; as the pilot and as the glorified errand girl. While it didn't feel as much of a problem for the past five years she was online, recently it all just seemed so mundane. Something inside her just felt like she could do more. Maybe that was why fighting alongside the Rangers became more alluring. But what did she know? She knew she was programmed to be a pilot robot. Besides, it was not like an opportunity like that would just fall from the sky.

It was then that she heard a loud crash in front of her. While the few civilians fled in separate directions, Wren came closer to see what happened. To her surprise, it was a jittering Entrooper lying in the rubble of an abandoned building. Using her optics, Wren was able to scan the area to determine the trajectory and where the hapless minion came from. Having an idea of where it came from, Wren decided to investigate with the help of her jet boots. Although she was able to fly with greater control as opposed to last time, there were a few times in which she almost collided with the roofs.

Landing on the top of a nearby building, Wren crouched down by a chimney to see what was going on. And sure enough it was the Rangers fighting off some of Jack Matter's forces. Wren was just memorized by the Rangers as they fought. Their quick movements, their inhuman ability to make every hit connect, the way they were able to hold off a larger opponent. It stirred something inside the pink robot.

She then saw a defenseless boy and his parents, who didn't get away in time, about to be attacked by some Entroopers. Without thinking, Wren flew down and started attacking the silver headed minions. Admittedly, her attacks weren't as flashy as the Rangers', but they clumsily managed to scare away the Entroopers. Turning to see if the family was okay, she saw elation from them before they managed to run away safely. Emboldened by this, Wren went on to fight Entroopers that were at the edge of the main fight.

During the commotion, Pepto Blasto noticed the newcomer while none of the other Rangers were paying attention. This gave him an idea. "So, a new challenger has appeared. Let's see if she can handle this." With a snap, his two Plantoid guards came to his side and with a wave of his hand the two aimed their club cannons at the pink robot and fired. Hearing the cannon fire, the Rangers looked towards the direction of the attack where they finally noticed that Wren appeared.

Velspro was the first to call out. "Wren!" With that, the robot realized what was going on and froze in fear.

In a moment of quick thinking, Lance grabbed two empty wooden crates and tossed them towards the direction of the cannon fire hoping that the boxes would be enough. Luckily, the crates came just in time to take both hits causing an explosion of wood and fire. The proximity of the blast caused Wren to fall backwards but at least she was safe.

This act caused the fighting to quickly die down. Pepto Blasto and Nergal regrouped to discover that most of their forces were defeated. As such Nergal ordered everyone to fall back. Before he left however, he proceeded to try to intimidate the Rangers. "Don't think this is over Rangers. Eventually your time will end, and all will bow to the universe's one true master." Nergal then made his leave.

Once all the enemies were gone, the Rangers ran to Wren's position, with both Millie and Fenris helping her up. "Are you okay?" Lance asked.

As she finally got her footing Wren responded. "Yeah. Fortunately, nothing serious." She then started to brush the dirt off herself.

Velspro was the last to arrive, having to run to the rest of the team. "What were you thinking back there?"

Wren, not expecting that response, was at a loss of words. "I…I…I thought that I could help."

"You know better than to jump into the middle of a fight," the Aquitian said. "Why would you do something so stupid?" That last part just felt like a sting to Wren's robotic heart.

Millie came to Wren's defense. "Hey wait a minute, that's a little bit harsh don't you think?"

"It doesn't matter. She needs to go back to the ship where she belongs." Wren couldn't take it any longer. She was on the verge of tears if she had the ability to do so. She then turned her back on the Rangers and ran before using her jet boots to fly off.

Millie tried to run after her before the robot was too far to follow. "Wren wait!" Millie turned towards the Aquitian in disapproval. "That was cold, even for you."

The other Rangers were silent as they turned their attention from Millie to Velspro. "It's for her own good. Come one, probably best to return to the ship." With that, the other Rangers followed Velspro's lead. Millie stood there for a second before following them.

* * *

Sometime has passed and Wren returned to the deck with plums in hand. At this point, she just wanted to get this errand over with and give the commander a piece of her mind. What she got instead was Ray and Jin arguing and groaning at the table. Upon closer inspection she saw that the two had the manual for the Detector open. However, for some reason they didn't seem to have made any progress on fixing it. "You two having trouble fixing the Detector?"

Jin just had his hands covering his face. "Please tell me you know how to translate this stinking text."

Wren tilted her head in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Ray just continued to rub his two fingers along his forehead. "Whatever language this is written in is like nothing that we have come across. So right now we're just taking a guess of what it is supposed to say."

Jin continued. "The best we got is that this page tells us how to start opening the blasted thing."

Wren looked over the two's shoulders to look at the manual. What she saw was a very peculiar script. It wasn't composed of any discernible letters or numbers. Instead it appeared as a series of circles for a lack of a better term. At the center of each was a single dot surrounded by a series of rings. On some of the rings there were some more dots that were clustered in one of four cardinal directions. Reading through some of the lines, it took the pink robot looking at the title to see where they were at. "This is just the Foreword that says you shouldn't break it."

Jin slammed his hands on the table in defeat realizing that most of the past few hours trying to decipher the manual were in vain. "Screw it, let's do this my way." The robot then readied his finger.

The commander suddenly appeared on deck and upon seeing Wren let out a loud, boisterous greeting. "Ah Wren, you have returned. I assume that the plum retrieving mission was a success?"

Given the absurdity of her mission, and what came out of it, Wren was not willing to play along with the commander. So, she marched right in front of him and said her piece. "You want your plums? Here are your plums!" She lifted the bag over Pendros' head and showered him with plums. "And for the record, I already examined their color and none of them are as purple as you!" Wren then just stormed off the deck.

Pendros just stood there and sighed. "Well that didn't go as well as I hoped." It was only a few moments later that an explosion occurred on deck followed by a yell from Ray. "Jin!"

* * *

Both Nergal and Pepto Blasto made their way onto Blasto's drillship, ready to give Jack Matter their report. As soon as they arrived, the giant hologram of Jack Matter appeared before them. "Good news I hope?"

Nergal knelt before the hologram before giving his answer. "Milord. My hunt has seen recent success. I have discovered that the Rangers have landed on this world."

That was when Pepto Blasto intervened. "Wait a second, Power Rangers? I thought you said ranchers."

Nergal just felt annoyance having to deal with this cretin. Of all the governors that could have been stationed here the only one present was one who couldn't tell left from right. "Well what reason would I have for something as insignificant as some random ranchers? Maybe if you pay better attention to the finer details you would have done something on this rock."

Pepto Blasto tried his best to defend himself. "Hey, I managed to give my people the work that they were meant for. Besides, it's not my fault that there are a bunch of words that sound too much alike. I swear, once I get a few more worlds I will simplify the language to use less of these fancy-schmancy words."

Jack Matter was quick to crush that dream. "And what makes you think that I will give you more planets to use when you can barely manage one? You control the worst run planet under my command and I'm getting sick and tired of it. You're going to need to give me better results before I consider finding your replacement."

Pepto Blasto was cowering when Jack Matter was saying that only to give out a low whimper in response. "Yes milord. I'll do better for now on."

Nergal smiled at Blasto's dismay. But that was before Jack Matter turned his eyes onto Nergal. "As for you. So you've located the Rangers. Does that also mean that you've destroyed them, or at the very least captured one of them?"

Nergal grew wide-eyed at the rebuttal and just started stuttering. Jack Matter was not amused and sighed. "I thought that you could handle this Nergal. But since that is clearly not the case, maybe I should look for your replacement as well."

Nergal was desperate to work his way out of his master's disappointment. "B…But milord. It has just been difficult to subdue them with the time that you provided."

Jack Matter was having none of it. "I have given you all this time in universe to stop the Rangers and all I see is that they multiply as if to mock me."

Nergal responded meekly. "It has only been a month."

"What did you say!?" The anger Jack Matter expressed at that moment was so powerful that even in hologram form it shook the room Nergal and Blasto were in.

Nergal was quick to bury his comment. "N…Nothing milord. It must have been the air ventilation in here. I will have it scrubbed at once sir."

Jack Matter just let it slide while he cooled his temper. "As always you can't get good help when you need it. I am letting you two go for the time being, and once you come back here I expect better results."

Nergal and Blasto quickly bowed their heads onto the floor just as the hologram began to dissipate. "Yes milord."

* * *

Meanwhile, Lance, Millie, and Velspro made it back to the ship and were prepping food in the ship's kitchen. Fenris left after a time due to him saying he wasn't good with kitchen utensils. Aurox, due to an incident involving eggs, a beehive, and a goat years ago, has been effectively banned from entering the kitchen. The mood was mostly silent among the three, probably due to neither of them wanting to start addressing the elephant in the room.

That was until Lance started to speak. "You were being too mean to Wren back there."

Velspro sighed at that remark. "I was trying to make sure that she is safe."

The Red Ranger just scoffed. "By belittling her? I get that she may not be the best trained fighter, but she can handle herself." While saying this, Lance remembered back when Wren fought alongside him and his duplicate as evidence enough.

Velspro stopped what he was doing and placed his hands onto the table suddenly. "Look, she's a pilot bot. She was not made to fight. She has to serve the purpose she was meant for."

"You're one to talk." Velspro turned to Millie who made the comment. She just had her head down, slowly peeling her potato, and not giving her full attention to the conversation. Velspro did his best to ignore that comment and continued. "Point being is that she's the only one who could fly the ship. If she's gone, we would be in trouble."

Lance was surprised at that and looked at both Velspro and Millie. "You mean you haven't tried to fly in her place?"

The blonde and the Aquitian both looked at each other uneasily before Millie answered uneasily. "'Try' is not the best word we would use." Over the years the two have tried to learn how to fly the ship with Wren doing her best to instruct them. But every time they took the pilot's seat it just seemed like the controls were out to get them. Any button or switch Wren would normally use would either break or do something it was not supposed to. Eventually the two decided to not lay a finger on the controls ever again. The attempts for other people to pilot were of mixed success. Commander Pendros, in one of his more rational moods, tried to fly it only for the controls to suddenly reverse themselves and nearly hurled them into a star. Surprisingly, Aurox seemed to be able to control the ship just fine, aside from the numerous occasions where his big fingers would lead to multiple button presses.

After hearing that Lance continued. "Anyway, it is just not right to keep her from trying something that she wants to do."

"Lance is right." Millie commented, despite how much that seemed wrong in her head.

"We should just take her to every mission we go to for now on."

This was not quite what Millie meant. "Now wait just a second."

Velspro stood up at Lance's proposition, hands firmly on the table and seemingly a little frustrated. "Didn't you hear the part about Wren being the only one able to control the ship?"

Lance stood to face his opponent. "Well then try the others. With luck someone has to able to fly it."

"She's not even a Ranger."

"That didn't stop me, and I was able to handle myself just fine before getting an orb."

"You had a sword with you!"

"You'll be surprised how useful jet boots are in battle."

It was at this point that the Red and Yellow Rangers got into an argument of jumbled words. Millie just stood there watching the two argue, turning to either Velspro or Lance when one of them was talking. She did try to voice her opinion on the matter, but it has had fallen on deaf ears. Eventually she let out a huff before putting her stuff down and went for the door, neither of the two apparently aware that she left.

Walking towards the deck, Millie saw Ray and Jin coming her way. Considering what has been going on lately, some good news would be nice. "Please tell me that you managed to fix the Detector."

Jin answered first. "I'm sad to say but no."

Ray followed. "The manual beat us into submission, so we decided to go do the commander's pet project and hope it's easier."

Millie stood there as she remembered something. "Wait, I thought Jin had electrical powers. Why can't he just hack into the Detector and see what's wrong?"

"Oh I tried." The golden robot showed her his right arm only to reveal that there was just a socket where his right forearm should be. Ray then revealed he was holding onto the missing forearm. "I got hit by a feedback so strong that I got thrown towards the back wall."

"We're just lucky that his entire arm didn't just exploded when it did."

Millie stood there wide-eyed and taking a mental note of never putting drinks next to the thing ever again. "Anyway, I'm looking for Wren. Is she on the deck?"

Ray answered. "No, she left after yelling at the commander. Don't have any idea where she went."

"I think I know." Millie left the two to their own devices while she proceeded to Wren's room. Standing in front of the door, Millie knocked on the door. She heard Wren giving a flat response. "What?"

"It's me. Can I come in?" The door opened by itself, allowing Millie to enter. Walking in, she was reminded of how bare Wren's room was. Being the only one who knew how to fly the ship meant that she spent most of her time around the deck. The only reason that this was her room at all was that she insisted when the other Rangers got theirs. The room had nothing noteworthy to show; the walls were bare, the desk has been left mostly untouched, and from past encounters there was nothing in the drawers. It wasn't from a lack of trying. Over the years Millie and Velspro tried to decorate her room with whatever interest she had at the time, only for the room to be empty again as she said that it just didn't feel right.

Looking towards the bed, Millie saw Wren just laying on top of the bed staring at the ceiling. Pulling the desk chair closer to the bed, Millie tried her best to cheer the robot up. "Hey, you alright?"

Wren tilted her head to look at Millie. Seeing her concerned face and blonde ponytail, Wren just sighed. "No. I'm not alright. I feel like the universe is playing one huge joke on me."

"Why would you say that?"

Wren held up her hand and started counting fingers. "Let's see. Making me constantly jump the ship to no end, being sent down to the planet to settle some stupid bet the commander had, and let's not forget how Velspro telling me off for trying to help in the fight."

Millie didn't really have anything for that last point. "He was trying to protect you. In his rather blunt way."

Wren sat back up and placed her face in her hands. "Don't know why I even bother. I'm a pilot bot, plain and simple. I'm not built for fighting."

Millie kept feeling sorry for her. She hadn't seen Wren this depressed in a while, and she had no idea how to approach this. "Not trying to be mean but what brought this up? You never had an interest to fight before."

Wren quietly groaned at herself upon hearing that. She was thinking that she was going to regret bringing this up, but she couldn't think of any other way to talk her way out of this. "Well, seeing you guys out there from the deck lately just brought up something within me. Not to mention that I have been having dreams lately and in one of those, it was me fighting and enjoying it."

"Dreams?"

Wren flinched at that moment. "See! You think that it is stupid! Please don't send me away for diagnosing."

"No, no." Millie tried to reassure her. "It's just that this is the first time I heard you mention them. Speaking of which, did you see what the other dreams were about?"

Wren let herself drop back onto the bed. "I'm not sure. All the other ones I can remember make no sense to me. Just a bunch of things happening without me knowing what they mean. I've been getting more of them lately and I just hope that it doesn't mean that there is something wrong with me." Wren sighed. "But who am I kidding of course there is something wrong. I'm just a pilot bot, I'm not built to fight."

"Well, it just seems like you have not been given the chance to try."

Wren looked at her skeptically. "Did you not hear the part where I was not made for fighting?"

Millie shrugged. "To be fair none of us ever thought of being Rangers from the start. Velspro and I found you after getting our powers. Aurox would not have been here if not for what happened to the doctor. Ray and Jin were criminals if you remember. Fenris would still be living alone if it weren't for Lance. And Lance, I have no idea what he would be doing." Millie then muttered under her breath, "Although he probably would have lucked his way into his powers no matter what." Getting back on topic, she turned her attention back to the robot. "Point is, we all chose to be Rangers, and if you want to choose to fight then you should be able to do so." Millie then placed her hand on Wren's knee. "And don't worry about the others knowing about these dreams. You're secret's safe with me."

The two suddenly heard Ray's voice coming from the intercoms. "The commander wants all five of you to go back onto the planet until further noticed. No explanation why but he did say that it was important." Soon after that there was a huge metallic clang coming from the speakers followed by the sound of flames and Jin screaming. With the speakers still on, Ray spoke, but this time it was clearly meant for Jin and not the Rangers, "Just grab the fire extinguisher and put it out." The intercoms were then turned off.

Millie took a silent breath before getting up from her chair and made her way to the door. But before she went out the door, she turned towards Wren. "Aren't you gonna come?"

"You're sure about that? What if I screw up like this time?"

"You did nothing wrong last time." Millie then extended her hand towards Wren. "And besides, this time I'll be there for you."

The robot hesitated for a moment, not wanting to cause anymore trouble. But she trusted her friend and as such grabbed her hand as the blonde led her out of the room.

* * *

Back on the planet there was a congregation gathering in town. Pepto Blasto was standing on top of a platform in the middle of town square, surrounded by his Plantoid bodyguards while Nergal was at ground level feeling rather indifferent about the whole ordeal. The Rangers have made their way through the crowd, making sure that they wouldn't be easily identified. Though in Aurox's case that meant sitting on his knees. Millie and Wren had just arrived and managed to reach the others.

A little out of breath, Millie spoke. "Did we miss anything?"

Aurox responded. "Nope. They had just been standing there the whole time."

Velspro turned to Millie before realizing that she brought Wren down with her too. "What is Wren doing down here?"

Millie just said, "I'll tell you later. Besides I think something's about to happen."

It was then that Pepto Blasto began to speak. "Citizens, it has come to my attention that I have not done better for you. Many of you are still without work and that has left less smiles than I had hoped. Well that changes today. Starting today I will do my best to make sure that everyone is given the work that is best for them. And my first act into doing this would be to reopen the mines."

There caused a large amount of small talk among the crowd, with many remembering the back-breaking labor that was involved in the mines.

Blasto continued. "As such, I will begin to get the right people for the job. Guards, go get me some minors."

With that the two Plantoids went and with the help of the Entroopers made their way through the crowd to pick people for the mines. However, it turns out the crowd thought that Blasto meant 'miners' as the foot soldiers started grabbing kids. This caused the crowd to go into a frenzy as parents desperately tried to prevent their children from being taken away. This soon led to a riot as random people started to punch and overpower the foot soldiers. Due to the chaotic nature of the situation, the Rangers got separated from each other as each of them were trying to not get trampled.

Still battling his opponents, Lance gave his comment. "I say now would be a good time to morph." The others seemed to agree as everyone else grabbed their orbs and morphed into their Ranger suits before resuming the fight.

During all of this, Wren spotted the two parents from earlier trying to hold onto their son as one of the Plantoids was trying to drag him away. She shouted towards their direction which grabbed the Plantoid's attention. This caused the kid to slip out of the monster's grasp and started to run off while his parents got lost in the crowd. The Plantoid turned back towards the kid and ran after him with Wren following them.

"Wren!" Velspro shouted. Looking for the others. "Guys we have to go after her!" He then sprinted towards the pink robot.

Millie was the only other one who managed to get out of her fight and follow. Lance tried to follow, but he was soon occupied by one of the other Plantoids to be of any help.

Sometime later the boy was still running from his monstrous pursuers. That was until Pepto Blasto, Nergal, and his Plantoid pursuer appeared from out of the corner, blocking the boy's path. Nergal then grabbed the boy's arm and lifted him up. "Time to end this farce of yours Blasto. Get your rabble in order so that I can end the Rangers."

Blasto was a bit peeved at Nergal for that. "Now hold on there, I think my angry mob are as much of a danger to us as are the Rangers."

Nergal fought back. "I was granted a special decree from Jack Matter to safeguard hi dominion. And I won't let your pesky rabble-rousing stop me from proceeding."

This just set off Blasto to argue some more. "You think that your fancy words would impress me? Well they aren't and they are just confusing me even more."

The two's bickering caused Wren to finally catch up, though Wren was more visibly out of breath. "Hold it right there." Wren tried to act forceful at that moment, but her breathing led it to fail badly.

Nergal refocused his attention to Wren with the boy still at hand. "And what good would you do? It is clearly obvious that you're not suited to fight on this kid's behalf." He then motioned the Plantoid to fire its cannon which caused Wren to fall onto the ground.

Velspro and Millie also managed to catch up and were able to assess the situation. Velspro then shouted towards Wren. "Wren get out of there! You're going to get hurt."

When the Yellow Ranger took a step forward, he was stopped by Millie who tried to counsel him. "Let her do this."

"But… they will…"

The Green Ranger placed herself in front of Velspro, face to face, with some desperation in her voice. "I get that you care for her. But just this once can you let her do something on her own?" With that, Velspro swallowed his pride and continued to watch.

Wren saw the two Rangers' commotion only to be snapped back by Nergal's laughter. "Listen to him girl. This isn't your place." Nergal then aimed his weapon at the boy. "Why don't you just run along and leave the fight to others?"

It was then that something in Wren just clicked. At that moment she didn't seem so nervous anymore and she started to get up. "No. I'm not defined by any role you or anyone else decide to give me. No matter what, despite what everyone else would think, I am able to decide what I can and cannot do." As she said this, the pink robot felt a sudden surge of energy flowing through her. "And if I choose to save this boy, then you will know full well that is what I'm going to do."

Nergal smirked at that and aimed his weapon at the bot. "How pitiful. To think so highly of yourself yet not knowing that you're wrong."

It was then Wren felt a sharp increase of energy coming from with her. She was then surrounded by green lightning which then directed into two directions. Both of which went to her hands. One her left hand, it formed into a morpher while on her right hand it formed into a pink orb that had the image of an eagle on it. Wren was at a loss of words.

Meanwhile, Velspro and Millie were also taken aback at what happens. That was until Velspro began to speak. "I can't believe it. So, Wren is-"

"The one the Detector was looking for." Millie muttered as she finished Velspro's thoughts.

This just infuriated Nergal. "I will not let another Ranger appear on my watch. He and the Plantoid then fired their weapons toward Wren.

The pink robot froze at the sight of the blast just like before, until she heard the two Rangers telling her to morph. As such she quickly placed the orb into her blaster morpher and began the sequence. "Cosmic powers, Activ…" The rest was obscured by the blast making its mark.

For a second, Velspro and Millie feared the worst. That was until a large pair of pink wings sprouted forward before reeling back in a flash of light. Out of the rubble stood a Pink Ranger with prominent pink feathered wings from her back and a stylized eagle as her visor. The newfound Ranger finally assessed what just occurred and as she looked down, she realized that it wasn't a dream. She squealed in delight at the Ranger suit now covering her; the bright colors, the skirt, the spandex. She looked at her two adversaries in confidence. "Now then, you're bringing that boy back."

While Blasto was at a loss for words, Nergal grew even angrier. "I like to see you try." Nergal fired another energy slash but this time Wren dodged it by flying with the use of her wings. She flew towards Nergal while firing her blaster at Nergal's weapon, disarming him. She then landed directly onto Nergal while grabbing the boy before flying off, using the kick and resulting gust of wind to knock the commander off balance. Landing at a safe distance, Wren put the boy down and tried to reassure him. "Are you okay?" The boy gave a smile and nod before giving her a hug which warmed the robot dearly. "Go on, find your parents and stay out of trouble." The boy did as he was told.

Wren then flew back towards the commander and governor to resume the fight. Nergal managed to knock some sense back into Pepto Blasto and along with the Plantoid, began to fire at her. However due her wings, Wren was able to easily dodge the attacks. A sudden twitch of the orb revealed that her weapon was a pistol to work in conjunction with her morpher, allowing her to quickly rain fire at her foes.

It was then that the other Rangers turned up. Lance was the first to speak. "You guys have any trouble here?" Velspro just shook his head and pointed the others at the fight that was commencing.

"Is that the young pilot?" Aurox asked.

Millie corrected him. "No, she's not the pilot. She's a Ranger."

The team then received a transmission from Jin. "Good news guys. We managed to complete the commander's secret project which will help us out."

Ray followed Jin's assertion. "We can now have the other orbs teleported to us using our belts. It should allow us to get the orbs that are best suited for our situation."

While still in flight, Wren was the first to test that. Pressing the button on her belt allowed an orb to appear. One that had a telescope engraved in it. Placing the orb into her morpher, it revealed a holographic scope to appear on both of her weapons which she turned towards Blasto. "Let's see you dodge this." With both hands at the trigger, she fired two blasts that were dead set onto their target. Fortunately for Blasto, he dragged the Plantoid in front of him to take both blasts, completely destroying the minion while leaving him flying.

Picking Blasto up, Nergal signaled for them to fall back. But not before Blasto summoned his drillship. "Let's see you face against this." The ship then transformed into a giant robot and was aiming towards the giant crowd of people. Fortunately, the Rangers began to summon their Zords during the ship's transformation. This included the newcomer's Zord which was a pink eagle.

Wren offered her advice to the rest of the team. "I would like to see what this Zord is capable of."

Lance agreed. "Lucky for you, so do I. Let's bring this together guys." As such the Constellation Megazord was formed; with the Taurus and Lycan Zords forming the legs and the Swordfish and Eagle Zords forming the arms. At first, the drillbot was on the offensive, thrusting its spear constantly only to be deflected by the Eagle Zord's wings. When the robot was readying another strike, it left an opening which the Rangers used by striking the robot's chest with the Eagle Zord's wings. The Rangers then ended the fight by imitating the motion of drawing a bow using the Swordfish and Eagle Zords which caused an energy bow to appear alongside the Megazord's arms. The Rangers released the energy arrow which strike the robot and destroying it, causing the Rangers to celebrate.

* * *

On Nergal's drillship, Nergal and Pepto Blasto were in complete panic. Not only did they screwed up their jobs, there's now an additional Ranger to deal with.

Blasto was the first to comment on the situation. "This is bad. Really, really bad."

Nergal grew desperate to save his own hide. "Bad for you. You're the one who lost their station."

"Don't put this all on me. You didn't help me at all to restore order. Now the whole planet is in revolt."

This soon devolved into another argument between the two. What neither seemed to realize from their bickering was that a hologram of Jack Matter materialized behind them. Their master gave them a fake cough which scared the two into attention. And from Jack Matter's expression it was clear that he figured out what the situation was, leaving him rather apathetic. He also began to look at his fingers while he spoke. "Ah you two are back. I assume that both of your managed to complete your tasks like I told you to do?"

Pepto Blasto went to his knees to grovel. "Well milord, it seems that the world had risen in revolt when I tried to enforce your glorious rule." Jack Matter raised an eyebrow at this, but he clearly knew where this was going. Pepto Blasto continued, "And it appeared that a new Ranger had shown up-"The mention of a new Ranger gave Jack Matter the excuse he needed. In an instant, he pointed a finger towards Blasto that shot out black energy. Surprisingly, the energy went from being holographic into something more tangible as it zapped Pepto Blasto and causing him to explode.

Jack Matter sighed. "About time his failures finally caught up to him. Couldn't even tell the difference between a dock worker and a doctor."

Nergal stepped back from it, still feeling the heat of the explosion. He was also more terrified as he knew that he was next on the chopping block. "As for you Nergal. I had such high hopes for you. Your conquests and devotion almost granted you a place by my side. But apparently you can't even handle a group of overbearing, over emotional teenagers." Jack Matter fingers then began to glow black again, indicating another attack.

Nergal had to think of something quick to save his own hide. "Wait milord! Don't be too hasty. I was only impeded by Pepto Blasto's own antics that caused me to fail in my mission. Allow me to face them entirely at my own terms and I will show you that I'm worthy to serve."

Jack Matter was not buying it. Still, giving Nergal another chance did allow some opportunities. After all, if he was able to pull it off then the Rangers will be no more. If not, well they would be able to do his job of getting rid of Nergal for him. Jack Matter reluctantly lowered his hand. "Very well you may be given another chance. But mark my words, if you come back to me without destroying the Rangers, the only thing you'll be escaping from would be a smaller explosion."

Relieved, Nergal bowed to his lord and master. "Yes milord, whatever your glory demands." He then made his way towards the exit.

When the transmission to Nergal's ship was terminated, Jack Matter began to press buttons on a holographic console. Once done, a voice came up waiting for Jack Matter's orders. Expecting the worst, he began to prepare. "I need you to send a message."

* * *

The Rangers have returned to their ship and were ready to celebrate. Not only have they got a new Ranger, but they saved a world as well. This was topped by Velspro coming in with a cake that he gave to Wren. This was followed by an apology. "Sorry if I came off as mean to you Wren. You do know that I was trying to protect you right?"

The robot nodded. "I know. But next time, can you at least give me a chance to explain if I want to try something new?"

The Aquitian gave a soft smile. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." He then stepped back to let the robot enjoy her cake.

"You do know that robots are unable to eat right?" Ray whispered.

"It's the thought that counts," Velspro responded back.

"Yes!" Pendros exclaimed. "Everything finally went according to plan."

Jin was pessimistic at the commander's statement. "You realized that Wren was the Pink Ranger the whole time? How?"

Fenris did his best to build up Pendros' revelation. "He must have figured it out through his superior intellect right sir?"

"Wrong my good sir," Pendros stated. "I figured it out just by looking at what she's wearing." This caused everyone to turn in bewilderment at what he just said. Wren especially tried her best to cover herself up, clearly getting the wrong idea from that.

Jin gave his two cents. "Uh sir. You might want to rephrase that for us."

"I mean look at her. She is just screaming that she is the Pink Ranger. The others looked at Wren and then realized what Pendros meant; pink hair, pink boots, even her clothing ensemble had large areas of pink on it. Commander Pendros then pointed towards the others as they were also wearing their Ranger colors on their clothes. "And the same goes for all of you. The next world we're stopping at you all buying different colored clothes." There was soon a large groan coming from everyone.

Wren gave a soft smile at that before returning to the cake. It was then however that she got another flash. At first, they just seemed like a random assortment of images like before. When the images finally slowed down, it revealed the middle of a battle. It featured beasts of all shapes and forms fighting amongst themselves as dust began to cloud the vision. The dust then dissipated quickly to show another fight. This time it was between a bloodied yellow lion and a younger white lion, while a shadowy figure with blue eyes overlooked them from high above them. After that, the vision was over.

Wren quickly shook her head and found herself back onto the deck. As she looked around, Wren noticed that no one else was aware of her having an episode as they continued to talk amongst themselves. That was until she looked at Millie who noticed her staring which caused the blonde to give a concerned look. The robot did her best to nonverbally reassure Millie that nothing was wrong before turning to at last enjoy the cake.

* * *

Late at night, while everyone else was either asleep or too far for them to notice, Commander Pendros entered his quarters after he took a quick glance to make sure no one was looking at him. As he entered the room, he immediately went towards his desk where he opened a drawer and pressed a button. This was followed by a hologram appearing in front of him which led to a call that was audio only. The commander then heard a voice speak to him. "What's the status of the others?"

"So far so good. We just received the Pink Ranger, so we finally have the complete set. I think it is time for a proper introduction."

The voice at the other end faltered a bit. "You think that would be wise? What with what happened last time. Plus there is still much work to be done"

Pendros reassured his caller. "This time would be different. Though I will still have to reprimand you for the previous incident. It was too close for comfort. In addition, I'm afraid that the tides are changing. It is best to do this now while we still can. But I can assure you, when the Rangers see what is going on, they will be speechless."

"I hope your right. Though, I do have concerns with one of them…"

"Leave that to me. All will be right with time. I will send you the briefing when the time is right. Don't worry, I'm sure they will adore you." With that Pendros ended the conversation. The caller, seeing that, closed his hologram before stepping out of the room with an orange stinger following him.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: United at Last

The Rangers were on deck doing their best to be an amused audience. More specifically Lance, Millie, Velspro, and Aurox were leaning on the railing while watching Ray and Jin setting up what they have been working on for the past few days. On the table, the two had placed a large metallic box with antennas, coils, and a satellite dish while they made Fenris to take position by the flight controls.

"So, what exactly is this thing suppose to do?" Velspro asked.

Ray gave him the answer. "Well, using the same logic that our belts use to call in the Orbs, Jin and I have been able to transmit a larger amount of quantum information to any location of our choosing."

This just left the audience giving a bunch of stares and blinking until Jin intervened. "He means that we teleport larger stuff now." The other Rangers let out a collective 'Ah' after hearing that. "Yeah forgive his technical jargon. It can get into his head at times." The two turned on the machine which caused it to let out a low humming sound. Satisfied, the robot continued. "Alright. Now we just need one more thing." Jin then made his way towards Fenris and went to grab the morpher strapped onto his arm. After a bit of resistance from the wolf, Jin managed to get the thing off. However, any sense of gloating vanished as the robot's sensors picked up a foul stench coming from the morpher. "Oh for the love of… This thing reeks. You do know you can take this off at any time right?" The Lycan only gave silence while also cleaning his ears.

The robot then placed the morpher onto the table before going to Ray's side. "Alright Fenris," Ray said, "now all you need to do is to think of the morpher appearing on your hand." The Lycan nodded and did as he was told. After a brief moment, everyone saw the morpher disappearing piece by piece from the table before returning to Fenris's hand in its entirety.

The observers clapped upon seeing this, which Jin took as an opportunity to bow for creating the device. That was until Ray knocked some sense back into him with a slap on his metal head. "Can't you try to be modest for once?"

Jin shrugged at his partner. "It's like you don't know me at all."

"So this thing can let us call down the morphers from anywhere?" Lance asked.

Ray was quick to answer. "Not quite. Out best estimates is that the ship needs to be at most orbiting whatever planet we're on. But at least it's better than nothing."

Millie was suddenly filled with glee at that statement. "Wait, can this thing teleport people as well?"

Jin was quick to burst her bubble. "Sadly no. Every time we tried to teleport anything large than a standard crate, the thing tends to explode." This left the girl being disheartened upon hearing that. "Now then," the robot continued, "we just need to find a good place to put this thing." Looking he believed that he had found the perfect spot. This upset Wren though when it turned out that it involved welding it to the side of the ship's controls.

This caused the pink robot to become defensive. "Wait a second. We shouldn't do anything hasty."

"This isn't hasty. This is being practical with the space we have," Jin said while getting ready to weld the device to the side of the control panel. Though it was difficult considering that he had use one arm to hold back Wren.

It was at this point that Commander Pendros entered the room, still feeling jolly as ever. "Now is not the time to sit around! We got a universe to save!"

Velspro was the one to burst the commander's bubble. "No disrespect sir, but it's difficult to save anyone when there is no one around." The Aquitian proved it by turning on the holographic map on the table and sure enough, it showed the neighboring systems as having little to no activity.

The commander just brushed that statement off. "Oh nonsense my boy. There is always something to do. As a matter of fact, I have something for all of you right now. I need you to go down to a nearby planet and wait for further instructions."

Jin didn't seem interested and continued to try to weld the transporter relay. "No offense sir, but I'm pretty sure that there are more important prioritized than walking around a planet."

The commander was quick with a response. "It involves walking across a quarry full of gold."

The robot immediately dropped everything at the sound of that. "But you never know. The enemy may pop up anywhere."

* * *

Sometime had past and the Rangers have landed onto the planet. Just like the commander said, they were walking across a quarry of gold. Although Jin was full of disgust when he took a closer look of what the quarry really held. "Fool's gold. Nothing around here but fool's gold. What? Was the mountain full of candy or the unicorn ranch too far out of reach?"

Velspro tried to calm the robot down. "I think that there are more important problems right now. Mainly the fact that we have been walking around this deserted rock for hours!"

In the meantime, Lance was communicating with the commander. "Sir, when exactly does the important stuff begin exactly?"

He only got a vague response. "Don't worry. Just keep going straight and then I'm sure that it would come up soon enough." After that, the commander cut off transmission and leaving Lance bewildered.

Ray turned to Millie and Wren for some answers. "Is the Commander always this nonsensical?"

The two just groaned and sighed in unison. "You don't know the half of it."

The Red Ranger continued. "I'm starting to think that the Commander just wanted the ship to himself. There can't be really that much around here right?"

Aurox gave his input. "Despite his methods, he is someone who knows where justice needs to be done."

It was then that Fenris jumped in. "Now if only there's someone to deliver that justice to."

Suddenly, an evil laugh filled the air. As if out of nowhere an army of Entroopers and Plantoids appeared in front of the Rangers. All of them led by Nergal. "Nice of you all to show up. It saves me the effort of hunt you all down."

As the Rangers were preparing for an attack, Velspro laid out a comment. "How does he keep finding us?"

If Nergal was saying anything profound, Aurox was not paying attention. Instead, his attention turned towards a figure emerging from behind one of the Plantoids. It turned out to be Arthro who seemed to be as disinterested in Nergal's monologue as anyone else. Upon seeing the orange tailed figure, a rage quickly built up in Aurox. How much would the bull want to strike him down where he stood. But he knew better than to just charge in blindly like last time. Right now, all he can do is wait and look for the right opportunity.

* * *

On the outskirts of the quarry, a small group of humans were lying low, overlooking the situation. None in this group appeared to be older than 13 years of age and were rather disheveled in appearance from their clothes to their hair. Some of them also carried knapsacks that they had to keep hidden so that they wouldn't noticeably stick out. There was also only one pair of binoculars among them and it was currently being used by a small boy of 9 who was given observational duty.

"What do you see?" One of the other kids asked.

"I'm not quite sure. I see a bunch of Entroopers, but I don't know who the other people are." The boy answered.

A different kid asked. "Well what do they look like?"

The boy responded, "Well, they look like a bunch of different things. I see a giant robot, a gold robot, a blue dog, some guy with bumps on his head, a girl with pink hair, and some regular people."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, something weird." The boy focused the binoculars for a closer look. "They seem to have some kind of toy attached to their hand."

This drew the attention of the older kids who were then trying to grab the binoculars for a better look. This also led to them to talk over each other.

"Is it really them?"

"No. Can't be. I can count eight of them. There's usually five or six."

"Also, their changers look way off."

"What are you talking about?"

"They are supposed to hold them like cellphones or something."

"Don't be ridiculous."

The younger boy was just lost in the conversation. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Power Rangers Ben. There are still some out there."

Ben still wasn't getting what got the older kids are excited. Unlike them, he only remembered life without being grounded onto a planet. Sure, he had heard tales of multicolored fighters protecting people from the monsters that stalk them, but he never saw any in person. Even the ones that supposedly protecting the others out there felt more rumor to him than anything else. Must be something that was lost along with the Earth.

It was then when one of the other kids realized something. "Crud. The ship's on the other side of the quarry." This caused the entire band of kids to groan in unison as that meant having to get past Jack Matter's forces down below.

"We can't be late. Otherwise the others will just leave us behind."

"Maybe there will be an opening for us to escape."

"Yeah, if these guys are what you say they are," Ben remarked. He got hold of the binoculars again and resumed looking at the situation. While doing so, he was still thinking of how the older kids were gawking about how the people down below are supposed to be world saving heroes. To him they seemed like any other person out there, trying to survive in this universe. All in all, he wasn't impressed.

* * *

Back inside the quarry Nergal seemed to be almost done delivering his speech. "And now, your time is up, and the Age of Jack Matter can finally begin!"

Jin subtlety leaned towards the rest of the team and whispered, "I'm not the only one who lost track of what he was saying right?" He was met by everyone quickly shaking their heads in agreement.

At this point Lance was becoming restless. "Ok let's cut to the chase, are we fighting or not?"

Nergal laughed in response. "Oh, how willing are you to fall by my hands. But if you insist." Nergal pointed his spear towards the Rangers, which signaled his forces to rush forward beginning the fight. The Entroopers charged too fast for the Rangers to transform so they had to resort fighting unmorphed.

Nergal meanwhile was just standing outside, observing the fight. He figured that this time around he would go in once the Rangers get too tired to stand up to him. After all, Jack Matter seems to care only that the Rangers are gotten rid of, he doesn't need to know the little details. Suddenly, he heard a loud crash of earth and rock behind him, followed by the screaming of kids. He turned around and saw several kids recovering from being caught in a landslide. Seeing the group of defenseless kids gave Nergal an idea. Grabbing a few Plantoids and Entroopers, he directed them to what he had in mind while recalling the rest of his forces.

"Rangers," Nergal commanded, getting their attention. As they turned around the Rangers saw Nergal's forces holding the kids hostage with either a club cannon or an Entrooper blade at their throats. "It seems that the perfect demonstration has shown up," Nergal continued. "Now see the result of your defiance!"

But as Nergal was about to give the order to dispose of his captives, a hand went across his chest stopping him. Arhtro intervened, with a cold disposition. "Let's not be too hasty."

Nergal was not too happy to be interrupted. "You dare mock me?"

"I'm just sensing an opportunity that you're missing." Arthro then whispered something in Nergal's ear that immediately piqued his interest.

"Yes, yes. You're right." Nergal then turned his attention back at the Rangers to continue gloating. "So, you want to play hero Rangers? How about this? Come back tomorrow and be ready to give me your morphers, or these kids will meet their end." He then did his best maniacal laugh before transporting all his forces away leaving the Rangers to still process what have happened.

* * *

The Rangers were back onto the deck of the ship feeling a bit despondent. Each of the Rangers was dealing with it in their own way and in different positions across the room. Strangely enough, the commander was noticeably absent ever since they came back. And while the general mood was one of malaise, Aurox was pacing back and forth just feeling agitated. "Who does that orange tailed fiend think he is? Him getting a morpher, making us give up ours, and threatening kids to do it? If that does not show that he is unworthy to be Ranger, then I don't know what is."

"We're all stumped about it as you are," Wren said in her best attempt to calm the bull, "but there is nothing we can do about it right now."

"Well we are left with two options; either we keep our powers and doom the kids, or we save them but give up our powers to Jack Matter." Ray commented.

"So, I'm guessing charging in fighting is off the table?" Fenris asked.

"No, if we do that, they'll probably use the kids to their advantage like shields or something," Ray replied.

"It's not like we can just run away. Pretend that it never happened." Lance commented rather solemnly.

Millie shot that down quickly. "No, no we can't. If we can't save a bunch of kids how are we expected to save the entire universe?"

Velspro quickly followed. "Well right now we need to figure out a way come out of this on top."

Jin was able to snap out of his malaise to give in his input. "I think I have an idea."

* * *

On Nergal's ship, the Entroopers were finishing up locking up the kids. While the older ones were placed in solitary cells, the younger ones were thrown into larger cells that could accommodate a few of them at a time. Off on the side, Nergal and Arhtro were overseeing the Plantoids exposing the contents of the various bags that the kids were carrying. Unfortunately for them, these contained useless junk. Mainly scraps of metal, broken electronics, and what seemed to be bits and pieces of discarded toys.

Arthro rummaged through the pile of junk, all the while thinking about how monotonous encounters like these have become for him. Even from what should be the wealthiest parts of the universe, everyone that they captured seemed to be holding to the same things. Whatever they could find to try to survive. "Shame that these kids didn't carry something of actual value."

Nergal just scoffed at that remark. "Not to worry. Once tomorrow comes we will be rewarded immensely by Jack Matter."

"That is if the Rangers follow through with the threat."

The conversation continued as the two walked to observe their new prisoners "And how could they not? It is in their nature, right? Saving those in need even when it's not called for?"

"I suppose you're right," Arthro reaffirmed. Not that he was entirely happy to be there. Having to be ordered to act as Jack Matter;s eyes for Nergal's chase of the Rangers. Granted the order had to pass from Jack Matter, to Arthro's superior, to Arhtro himself but that part can be easily ignored over. "After all, it seems to magnify when it comes to kids." The two then stopped in front of a cell that contained four of the younger kids, including Ben.

It was then that Nergal noticed that Arthro's left hand seemed to be poking out of his cloak revealing a heavily bandaged hand. "Had a nasty accident recently I assume?"

Arthro realized where Nergal was looking and immediately covered up his hand with the cloak, not quite revealing the fact that he had a morpher to anyone. As such he needed to think of a convincing lie. "I have a gash from a fight years ago that nearly cost me my hand. It never fully recovered."

Nergal smirked seemingly buying it. "Maybe when this is all over you can ask Jack Matter to heal that hand of yours."

"You seem to put a lot of faith in him, don't you?"

Nergal laughed at that. "Why wouldn't I? It was Jack Matter who showed us vision. It was Jack Matter who brought all the disparate empires to heel. It was he who conquered the universe before the other Rangers had time to react." He then decided to have fun with a little girl who was leaning her back upon the cell bars. Slowly powering his staff Nergal continued, "And once we have done our job, Jack Matter will finally see through it that these weaklings become our eternal thralls." Nergal then tapped his staff to one of the cell bars, releasing a surge of energy that can be best described as a large electric shock. This caused the girl to suddenly jump and fall forward several inches writhing in pain. While not fatal, the attack was still enough to be rather painful. The kids could only watch in horror while Nergal laughed and made his way to leave the cells.

Ben was quick to run to the girl's side before angrily looking at Arhtro as he followed Nergal. "Why can't you just leave us alone you monster!" Upon hearing that, Arhtro stopped walking and did his best to not show any emotion. It appeared what the human said had struck a nerve.

* * *

 _It was nearly a lifetime ago on a faraway world. It was a world shrouded by a purple sky and sculpted by a landscape of sand and rock. Its key defining feature was a long winding road that led to a castle on a hill. However, the locals from the nearby villages knew better than to approach it at their own volition. As oppose to castles that emitted regal splendor, this one for the longest time symbolized terror and malice. It didn't appear to be made of stone but seemed to be more of a mixture of a sandcastle and a termite mound. For as long as the villagers remembered, the master's minions would occasionally storm out of its gates to terrorize them, while at night the skies would be filled with shrieks of lightning and the master's vile, maniacal laugh._

 _However, such activity has been absent for years. The master left one day and never returned. What's more, all his servants that remained disappeared too in a flash of yellow light. Now all that remained were empty halls and gusts of wind. The villagers that were left behind never sought to investigate what happened as they were scared of what hidden secrets could come out within the castle's sealed doors._

 _In one village that lived under the gaze of the castle, a group of kids were beating and kicking at a young boy who was lying on the ground. While at first glance the boy didn't seem different from the others, a closer inspection showed otherwise. Primarily the fact that he had a small orange tail sticking out from his back. As the attack ensued, the bullies shouted various things at the boy._

" _Freak!"_

" _Why don't you disappear along with the others?"_

" _Think we wouldn't notice your tail?"_

 _The kids continued their attack, all the while unaware on what was happening to the boy. From the tears, the bullied boy suddenly felt something stirring inside him. It as though all the anger and stress within him started to pile up. Letting out a barely audible roar, he saw that his vision suddenly turned a bloodshot red._

 _Just then, the boy felt no more punches or kicks as he saw his attackers getting pelted with small rocks. Despite their howls to stop, the rocks were too much for the bullies and they began to run off. It was then that a slightly older boy appeared. Upon seeing his rescuer, the boy no longer felt any rage, and his vision returned to seeing normal colors. The older boy yelled at the others to get out of there before reaching his hand out towards the bruised kid._

" _Are you okay Arthro?"_

 _Arthro simply nodded before grabbing the other's hand in return, feeling relieved by his presence._

* * *

The next day followed, and the Rangers have returned to the quarry. They were standing in a line though this time all their left hands were noticeably bare. Millie and Lance were each carrying giant cases that could barely be held with one arm. They also decided to let Jin negotiate for this since their other options ranged from unexperienced to likely to open their big mouth. Nergal and his forces were there too, but instead of teleporting immediately to the designated position, he thought it would look more menacing if they walked towards the Rangers from a certain distance.

While this was going underway, Millie was the first to speak. "I hope this works."

Lance was being optimistic. "It will be fine. Besides, when has any one of Jin's ideas go awry?" Ray just remained silent over that.

Nergal and his forces finally managed to reach the Rangers, all the while feeling excited about what was about to happen. "So, have we've come to an agreement?"

"Well we would but I see a problem right away my good sir," Jin said. "I'm not seeing any hostages."

"Y-you can't make any demands from me! I have all the cards on the table now!" Nergal declared.

"This isn't a demand; this is just common negotiating practice. There is still some level of courtesy involved in this."

"Well, how you can be so sure that I brought them with me in the first place?"

"About as sure as you thinking that our morphers are really in these boxes," Jin retorted, "so how about we stop dancing around and show each other what we got okay?"

Nergal looked back at Arthro who just glared at him just to get this over with causing him to relent. With of a snap of his fingers, a group of Plantoids pushed the kids into the forefront of the rest of Nergal's forces so that the Rangers can see that they are present.

"Alright then," Jin replied, and with a snap of his own fingers Millie and Lance opened their boxes to reveal their morphers as instructed. They then placed the boxes to the ground and with a push of their feet slid them towards Nergal's direction where they were picked up by some Entroopers. Jin continued. "We did as you said now give us the kids."

But before the kids could go, Nergal continued. "Actually, I feel like the rules of the trade have changed."

Jin was taken aback by this. "You can't do that! What did I just say about negotiating practices?"

Nergal just started to gloat again. "You think that I would be civil with the likes of you? You just fell into my carefully laid out trap. Now that you are without your powers there is nothing you can do to stop me from annihilating all of you, starting with these kids. Guards, open fire!"

The Rangers braced themselves for the opening salvos, but after a few seconds they opened their eyes in confusion as no such attack happened. Nergal was just as confused. That was until the Plantoids that were guarding the kids suddenly dropped dead. It was then that everyone saw Arthro's tail waving through the air before retracting back into him.

Nergal did not take this well. "What. Did. You. Do?"

Arthro replied emotionlessly. "They were in the way."

"I knew that you were more trouble than you were worth." Nergal then launched an energy attack from his spear towards Arthro, only for him to dodge it and momentarily dazed Nergal by an elbow strike to his side.

Arthro then commanded the kids to run away, which they did, while he ran towards the Rangers who were still trying to comprehend what just happen. Velspro was the one to verbalize their thoughts. "What's going on?"

"I'll explain later," Arthro replied. Taking out his Cosmic Orb he looked at the others with a sense of uneasiness. "Hope you guys got a way to get your morphers back."

Lance laughed at that. "Luckily for you, we have a solution. Rangers ready?"

The others shouted in unison, "Ready!" With left arm held across their chest, they imagined their morphers appearing back to them. Which did happen as the morphers were teleported from the boxes and back to their owners. The Rangers then summoned their Orbs and cried out, "Cosmic powers, Activate!" With that, all nine of them transformed into their Ranger forms.

"Leo Power! Cosmic Red!"

"Scorpion Power! Cosmic Orange!"

"Lycan Power! Cosmic Blue!"

"Balance Power! Cosmic Gold!"

"Taurus Power! Cosmic Black!"

"Serpent Power! Cosmic Silver!"

"Chameleon Power! Cosmic Green!"

"Eagle Power! Cosmic Pink!"

"Swordfish Power! Cosmic Yellow!"

All nine of them then shouted together. "Galactic defenders, with powers forever!"

Nergal, still recovering from the kick, finally managed to speak. "Cute. Entroopers, attack!" And with that, both sides charged in to begin the fight.

Off in the distance, the kids were racing to get back to their ship. However, upon hearing sounds of battle, Ben turned around to see what was going on. What he saw were the Rangers, dressed in bright colored uniforms, fighting off what was supposed to be ruthless silver enemy with relatively ease. For whatever reason, a thought grew inside him came upon seeing them. He thought that they were pretty cool. It was then that one of the other kids called him back to reality and he continued running back to the ship.

With all nine of them morphed, the Rangers were able to take out the Entroopers easily leaving Nergal all by himself. To rectify this, Nergal resorted to get back to his ship and start blasting them from the air. The Rangers countered this by summoning their Zords and quickly formed the Constellation Megazord, with the Chameleon and Lycan Zords forming the legs and the Scorpion and Taurus Zords forming the arms. When Nergal's drillship fired its three drill cannons at once, the Rangers fought back with energy blasts from both of its arms. This resulted in a stalemate between the two combatants, until the Rangers united the power of all nine of their Zords to unleash an energy blast that caused an energy overload on Nergal's ship that resulted in its destruction.

The last remnant that the Rangers got from Nergal was a transmission from him before his ship exploded. "Mark my words Rangers! Even though you defeated me, you are no match to the glory that is Jack Matter!" Seeing that their enemy was gone for good, the Rangers started to celebrate their victory.

* * *

While the Rangers were celebrating, they didn't notice that one of the Entroopers' disembodied heads still had its visor faintly glowing. While it was weak, it was able to capture enough footage to send to its master.

In a distant location, Jack Matter was sitting on his throne watching the events unfold. Even with the action happening as expected, he had some hope that things would have been different. But no, the team has been fully assembled and a formerly useful servant has been eliminated. Just like they always do. Jack Matter sighed. "And so, the dance continues."

It was then that the door behind him opened revealing two figures in shadow as they entered the room. Within a few steps the pair stopped with one lifting a gun behind her head while the other bowed before the throne. The second figure then rose before speaking in a distinct drawl. "And what honor have you bestowed upon us o great one?"

Jack Matter slowly turned his throne around while giving his command. "I require something with an experienced touch. How would you like to kill some Rangers?" The two figures smiled in glee before laughing maniacally.

* * *

Sometime later, the Rangers returned to their ship, the _Eternal Beacon_ , and demanded an answer from Commander Pendros about what is going on with Arthro. What they got was a little hard to swallow for some of them.

"So what you're saying is that Arthro has been a spy this whole time?" Fenris asked.

Pendros just gave a simple answer. "Yes."

"And he has been a Ranger shortly after we have been, even though we never met?" Velspro asked while motioning to him and Millie.

"Yes."

"And you thought that it was a good idea to not tell us this, even when it could have been really useful at times?" Wren asked a bit frustratedly.

Pendros did his best to defend himself. "Look the more people who know a secret, the more likely it would have been for that secret to no longer be a secret. Besides his assignments were deep in enemy territory for long stretches of time. He needed privacy."

"Who else knew?" Ray asked.

"The rest of High Command and myself."

Jin realized something. "Wait. You mean to tell me that you knew all along and you still left the others to almost be taken by the poison?"

Pendros felt offended by that. "I had back up measures." He then kicked the base of the table to indicate what he meant. "Besides, it still worked out in the end right?"

"Just barely!" Jin retorted.

Lance tried to lighten the mood a little bit. "Well look on the bright side, he's now fully on our side and we now have the full team together. Jack Matter will be beat in no time right?"

Arthro quickly shot him down. "You don't know me at all. I work best alone. Just call me when the next assignment comes."

Pendros sighed and tried to reassure the rest of the team. "Um, give him time. I'm sure he'll open up soon enough." The Rangers then dispersed to do their own thing while Arthro presented Pendros with his latest report.

Afterwards on the way out, Arthro paused just outside the door to the deck until it closed behind him before continuing his way down the hall. That was until he suddenly saw a metal arm slamming right in front of him and blocking his path. Turning to his left he noticed Aurox staring at him, clearly showing a disgusted expression despite his limited facial movements.

It was at that point that the bull began to speak. "I'm not quite sure what kind of joke you're playing at. You go off killing an innocent man and now I'm supposed to cooperate with you?" Aurox tried his best to control his rage. He promised the others that his vendetta would not interfere in their wellbeing. That still didn't mean that he had completely forgotten. "For the sake of the mission and the team I will tolerate your presence here. But know this, if you make one false move, one step back, one moment that seems like you're betraying the team, I will personally make sure that your Orb finds a better successor." With that, Aurox let go of the wall and proceeded to walk down the hallway, leaving Arthro to absorb what he just said.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: A Training in Respect

The Rangers' training room. For a room that rivals the ship's hanger in terms of size, it was the number one room in terms of lacking many distinguishing features. Aside from the room access being a winding staircase downwards, the room was rather barren with four beige walls that rose further than most ladders can reach, was longer than it was wide, and the only other feature was a small, one-person console for programming simulations. Well, those are the aspects that one can initially see when entering the rooms. Most of the room's prominent features were hidden away until called upon. A series of hard-light projectors were embedded all over the room, little devices that could manipulate light into being solid objects or emit an optical illusion to simulate any environment one can imagine. This was further supplemented by training robots that were lifeless and without thought but were able to change their appearance as well. Though where the robots were being produced on the ship was anyone's guess.

Currently, the room was filled with sounds of quick cracks in the air and a few female grunts before concluding with a long screech that came from the floor. It was the Green Ranger, morphed, just lost her helmet, and laying on her back in defeat. Picking herself up, Millie checked to see if there were any new bruises from the last attack. Though, the attack did not come from the training robots who have been stationary this whole time. The attack has come from her own weapon.

Not noticing anything new aside from a little soreness in her neck, the Green Ranger resumed what she had been doing. "Ok. Let's try this again," Millie muttered under her breath. Activating her weapon, she allowed the blade to extend as much as possible. Recently she had noticed something peculiar with her weapon. Lengthen the blade long enough and it starts to become uncontrollable and would slash in all directions as well as beginning to curve. So, a thought came to her one day. If the blade would act erratically at that point, then maybe she could use it to her advantage and have more use from her weapon.

As the blade started to swing around on its own, Millie knew that this was when the real challenge starts. Repositioning herself and extending her other hand to get a hold of the blade allowed her to restrain the blade's behavior. Despite this, she knew that the blade would still find a way to strike back at her. All her previous failed attempts taught her that the hard way. As such, she decided to swing the blade around to change its direction of attack towards one of the training robots. With a loud snap, the robot was split into two pieces by the waist. With another tug, the weapon changed direction and was looking to strike the Green Ranger.

In a matter of quick thinking, Millie jerked on her hand so that the blade charged at another training bot instead, dismembering the robot's arm in the process. Strangely, the blade stopped acting wildly and becoming rather still. The Green Ranger thought that maybe all the moving around must have caused the blade to stop acting on its own. Curious, Millie gathered some of the extended blade and then shifted her body so that the blade directed its attack onto a third robot. The result was a clean thrust through the bot's chest.

Looking over at the state of things, the Green Ranger was feeling rather pleased at herself. All the bruises and determination finally paid off. She grew a big grin on her face and started to jump up and down in glee.

Though the celebration was cut short when Millie heard the door opening, causing her to stop and doing her best to clean herself up and act as calm as possible. Which was fortunate since when she turned around, she saw Commander Pendros coming in.

As the commander walked in, he noticed that Millie had seen better days; face had some minor bruises, disheveled ponytail, not to mention some scrapes on her ranger uniform. "Anything the matter?"

The Green Ranger let out a small cough before answering. "Nothing sir. Just some intense training that's all." She tilted her head to see that the rest of the Rangers were behind the commander. "How come everyone's here?"

"I'm glad you asked! Seeing as we now have all nine rangers here, I feel that the most important thing to do now is for you all to learn how to work together."

"Haven't we've been working together this whole time?" Fenris questioned.

"Yes, but I feel that you can do better. More people means more complications, so best for all of you to know how to coordinate before you step on each other's toes."

"Well he is right," Ray said supporting the commander's statements. "Having nine rangers in a team to start with is a peculiar rarity."

Lance felt excited. "Shouldn't be so hard. We got tons of experience working together as a team already." In response, Millie, Arthro, and Wren expressed unease. "What? We have worked coherently before. Like when we found Fenris."

"Well, that was less working together and more splitting up due to circumstances," Velspro corrected.

"When we found Ray and Jin?"

For Millie's response, "You went off on your own while the whole town was attacking the rest of us."

"Arthro?"

"Most of us were at death's door for reasons that still baffle me," Jin said before giving the commander the stink eye.

"Uh," Lance was scrambling to remember one incident that would help his case. "We fought together when we faced that one guy last week."

"Correct!" the commander exclaimed. "But the case still stands. You all can do better. As such I devised a simulation that'll hopefully help you coordinate your actions." After the commander dialed some buttons on the training console, the hard-light projectors changed the room to imitate an empty town plaza. Several training bots sprung out of the ground before they took shape as Entroopers. At the same time, one of the bots took on an appearance of a Plantoid commander that had a distinctive silver face. "They won't attack until you are ready to do so. As such, have fun." Pendros then made his way out of the room.

Fenris was eager for a fight, simulated or not, so he took no time to morph. "Finally. Time to let loose."

Morphing alongside him was Lance, ready to prove himself. With a quick flick of the Orb placed on his morpher, his Ranger sword materialized in his hand. "Looks like no problem for a Red Ranger," he said with a smile. It appeared that he had a plan "Alright everyone, follow my lead and this should be a breeze." Granted it wasn't a complicated plan as he and Fenris just charged into the mass of simulated foes.

The rest of the team on the other hand were not prepared for this, causing to scramble to morph and get ready before they also joined the fray.

* * *

Somewhere in the far reaches of space, a small, two manned ship screeched across the void as it flew towards its destination. Not that its occupants were paying attention to their surroundings, as they were focused on different things. The person in the forward seat was looking at the data for their new mission, while the person behind him was shopping for new weapons. The two passengers were covered in shadow even with the rest of the ship was alit with electronics. This wasn't a problem for them as their eyes were perfectly fine even in such darkness, and it saved on having to spend on more electricity. Bounty hunting does have its dry spells at times

As the person in front was looking over the mission information, the other one in the back interrupted him with a noticeable feminine, twangy accent. "So, what do ya make of these new targets?"

"They sure look like a sorry bunch if you ask me," the other occupant responded. "Interesting that a bunch of kids are being sent to fight the Resistance's battles."

"Did not expect our last meetup to hurt them so badly. So what's the plan this time?"

"Probably best if we go simple. No need for extra show boating for the moment. And it just so happens that I have a pretty good idea of where they are going." The bounty hunter then sent the layout of his plan for his partner to see. "Little insignificant planet that wouldn't mind if we cause some trouble. Also, it's run by Lamfear, that long-necked fool owes us a favor."

The female bounty hunter felt disheartened by the plan. No fun. No pain. It just made the mission a lot more boring. Trying to find something more enjoyable she looked back at what she was looking at before; perusing the wide selection of weapons for sale in front of her. So many additions to her collection. So many new options to take down her opponents. "Now, what new toy to get today? A Quadra-Blaster to take out multiple enemies at once? Or maybe twin pistols that freeze and shatters people? That sounds like fun."

It was then that something piqued the male bounty hunter's interest. "I reckon that a more, long-lasting enjoyment is in order. Look who one of our targets is." With a quick movement of his fingers, he transferred the mission information to her. And what was shown immediately caught her attention; a picture of Arthro indicating that he is now the Orange Ranger.

This caused the female bounty hunter to have a smirk. "Should we tell his boss before or after we kill him?"

"After, why spoil the moment?"

* * *

Back in the _Eternal Beacon's_ training room, things were not going as smoothly as one can hope. After who knows how many attempts, all nine of the Rangers faced the same result; being beaten to the ground and defeated by the simulated opponents.

"These are a lot tougher than what we are used to," Jin groaned.

"Yeah, these guys seem to use actual strategy this time," Ray concurred, "Maybe we should regroup and figure out a better plan."

Lance however was not as downtrodden. "What other plan do you need? If we take down the monster, then the rest should follow. It worked well before."

Millie objected, "That's not an actual plan you know."

"Hey, it worked for Orion, it should work for us."

Millie quietly scoffed at that. She wasn't quite sure why Lance venerated this Orion guy so much. Though granted she had no idea who he was talking about anyway. Despite that, she was pretty sure that he had a better grasp in battleplans than Lance.

Fenris intervened, "Don't worry. As the Red Ranger, I'm sure that you have the best plan."

Velspro asked, "Can someone tell me why Fenris is following Lance so faithfully?" Wren just gave a shrug.

Lance went back to the console to restart the simulation. "Alright, let's try this again." Most of the other Rangers let out a sigh before getting ready for another fight.

As the fight commenced, it was clear that the Rangers' attack wasn't going so well. All the Rangers that had a melee weapon followed Lance's lead and charged into the enemy crowd. However, most of the simulated Entroopers simply dodged the initial attack and were able to strike at their flanks leaving them vulnerable. In the meantime, Jin and Wren stayed in the rear trying to give supporting fire from their ranged weapons. Unfortunately, the two were then get quickly overwhelmed by the simulated troops that managed to get past the others. It did not help matters that their uncoordinated attack left them unaware of the others' location. As a result, there were incidents when one of their attacks would turn into a case of friendly fire. On top of that, no one could lay a finger on the Plantoid as it bobbed and weaved between their attacks while also working in tandem with the Entroopers to finish off the Rangers.

With all the Rangers down on the ground, it was clear that it was a repeat of the past few hours. In a huff of frustration, Millie demorphed. "That's it!" She then turned towards Lance. "We're going nowhere with the like of you as a leader!" Afterwards she made her way out of the training room.

Velspro was quick to follow her, but no before he tried his best to defuse the situation. "Sorry. She didn't mean it like that." Still, what Millie said disheartened the Red Ranger. What's more, the others began to fall off, either due to recovering from their bruises, or just trying to find an excuse to depart.

Commander Pendros opened the door to the training room to check in on the Rangers' progress but was instead met with them coming out dispirited and not in the best of shape. To the commander's dismay it was clear to him that the exercise did not go as well as he hoped.

* * *

Millie found her way onto the deck, still mad about what had happened in the training room. Eventually, her anger got the best of her and she punched Aurox's punching bag to relieve some rage. Unfortunately for her, she forgot that Aurox had the bag filled with hardened cement. As such, she immediately grabbed her hand and yelled in pain. "Ow."

Velspro finally managed to catch up with her on the deck, and when he saw her grabbing her hand, he quickly went to her to assess the damage. "Are you alright?"

"Hurts a little bit. Don't think I broke anything." A closer inspection showed redness on her knuckles, but nothing serious.

Grabbing the near by first aid kit just in case, the Aquitian began to wrap Millie's hand with some gauze. Having a good guess where the bruises came from, Velspro spoke, "You were rather rude with that outburst back there."

"Well who does he think he is? Just because he fell out of the sky and became the Red Ranger means that he can become leader? He hasn't done a single thing worth leading for. Has he realized what some of us had to go through to be here? Has he-"

"Millie…" Velspro spoke in a stern voice.

Millie sighed, trying to calm herself down. "Look, I already accepted that neither one of us is going to be the leader. I just can't accept that we have that oaf as out leader." Little that both knew but right outside the door Pendros was quietly listening to their conversation before taking off.

* * *

Back in the training room, all that is left is Lance and Fenris. Still feeling down from the rest of the team bailing, Lance is spending the time swinging his sword at basic training bots while Fenris is doing the polite thing of cleaning up the resulting clutter.

After a while, Commander Pendros made his way through the door and observed the situation. "I see that the team building exercise did not go so well."

"No. they decided to do their own thing than follow me," Lance responded.

"Looks like you managed to get someone to do so," Pendros said while pointing at Fenris.

"Yeah well, he's gonna follow whatever I do no matter what. That's something I lucked out on at least."

Pendros took a mental note upon listening to Lance. _This is supposed to be Orion's successor? He's not really that well trained with a sword if you ask me._

"Guess I'm not a proper Red Ranger if I can't lead them properly."

The commander then did his best to lift Lance's spirits. "Look. I'm not sure how to solve this problem for you, but I can tell you this. Being a leader is something that you must earn. You can't simply just put on red spandex and have the others follow you just like that. Give them a reason and the respect for them to follow you. Once you've done that, and I'm sure that they'll jump off a cliff if you tell them to."

"Nice thought, but I doubt that the others would bat an eye even if I try."

The commander then made his way towards the console and began to press some more buttons. "Well if they don't listen to you now, they'll probably listen to you later." Once Pendros finished what he was doing, several new training bots appeared who took on the appearance of the other Rangers. "I took the liberty to program them to fight like you guys so that you can improve your skills. Granted some of the data is a little outdated, but it should be enough." Once that was done, the commander left the room while the two Rangers went to work.

* * *

It was late at night on the ship, or what could be the best equivalent for night. Most of the Rangers have already called it a day and went to their quarters, but through the hallways of the ship, one can hear echoing footsteps followed by heavy breathing. Millie had picked up the habit of late-night jogs whenever she was extremely agitated. It tended to keep her mind off other things. Right now, she took a pause and was leaning towards a wall to catch her breath. She then took out the headphones from her ears and paused her music player. She would be the first to admit that she was probably a little too old to listen to most of the songs on there, but she wasn't going to do anything about it. She took a quick swig from her water bottle when she noticed something; the door to the training room was still open and lit.

Peeking into the room, Millie saw to her amazement that Lance and Fenris were still practicing even at this late hour. Trying to avoid getting their attention, Millie overheard a little bit of what the two were saying.

"Alright. What went wrong this time?" Lance said.

Fenris responded, "There is still an open gap by Arthro that the enemy can use to sneak in behind us. Also exposes Jin and Wren from unneeded close combat."

"Okay. So, what's what can we do better?"

"Put the Aurox bot over there?"

"No, they've already shown that they won't work along."

An extra second of thinking the situation over led the Sirian to find an answer. "Maybe switch Wren and Jin's position and use Jin's crossbow to plug the hole."

"That could work. Let's try it," the Red Ranger then restarted the program and began to reposition the other simulated Rangers into their new positions.

Millie was paying too much attention to notice the commander behind her. "Not much of an oaf now huh?"

The commander's voice suddenly appearing took the Green Ranger off guard. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to see that he is improving." The two resumed looking at Lance and Fenris.

"Sure he is. Doesn't mean that he'll be a leader to blindly follow."

"In that case, maybe he needs some help. What is the Earth phrase? 'Lead by example?'"

 _That is not what that is used for,_ Millie thought to herself. But still she knew what he meant.

Lance and Fenris were back onto the ground. To them it felt that while they were able to fight off their opponents for a longer amount of time, it seemed that there is always a new problem that emerges.

"Is it just me or is there more Entroopers behind us now?" Fenris asked.

"Yeah. Don't know what happened. Thought we covered out bases." Lance responded.

"Velspro's always had a problem with guarding his left side," the two Rangers turned to see the source of the voice and saw that it was Millie. "Never gives it his full attention."

"Come back to criticize me further?" The Red Ranger commented.

"No. I came back to help. And to apologize," The Green Ranger finally admitted. "Just gotten frustrated on a few things."

"Yeah, suspected that after fighting these things a few more times," the Red Ranger commented while using his weapon to point at the simulated opponents. "If only I could send a better impression to the rest of the team."

"Well I'm supposed to be down here helping you show that to the others so let's get to it." Millie went to the console to adjust the simulation, particularly so that her simulated self was not a part of it. "Oh, by the way, been trying a new move lately and want to use it on these guys if given the chance."

"No, go for it. Can't get any worse than what we've been doing for who knows how long." Once the adjustments were set, the training bots began to take point while the three Rangers readied themselves for battle and for a much longer night.

* * *

A couple hours had past and it was the closest thing the ship had to morning. The team of Lance, Fenris, and Millie did manage to practice more together, but eventually they lost track of time and found themselves sleeping in the training room out of exhaustion. Fenris was sleeping on a pile of broken robot parts while Lance and Millie could be found sitting against a wall and sleeping next to each other.

The three were suddenly awaken by Wren's voice coming from the speakers. "Attention everyone. The commander wants all of us to be on the deck effective immediately." Lance and Millie helped each other up while Fenris just rolled over and dusted himself off any metal scrap or loose wiring before making their way onto the deck.

When they reached there, the three noticed that they were the last ones to arrive. The others were either standing or sitting all around the deck while the commander was looking out at the window, with his back towards everyone else. Immediately, the commander began to speak. Though it felt more like he was talking to himself. "Alright I'm going to keep this short. Found planet, Jack Matter commander, go fight until he explodes. Seeing how yesterday's training did not go as I imagined, we should do baby steps and send in five of you guys to start with. I'm going to say… you five," pointing at Lance, Fenris, Millie, Jin, and Velspro. "Yes, that should be fine. Now then, let's get going. Evil waits for no one."

The commander just heard silence, so he turned his head to see what was going on. Everyone was standing still, not quite fully processing everything that the commander just said. Pendros just figured that it called for him to bet a little bit louder. "In case you were in the back. Let's get going! Evil waits for no one!" Though by a little bit louder he meant loud enough for the deck to somehow shake and cause everyone else to lose their footing.

Not wanting to know what would happen if the commander had to be repeated for a second time, the five chosen Rangers ran for the door while given a quick "Yes sir."

* * *

In no time, the five Rangers landed onto the planet, and to their shock they found their target easily this time. A bunch of people running and screaming away from something in a city plaza was always a good indicator. The commander, Lamfear, was a little more peculiar than their previous foes; a small head, long necked green monster that was wearing green pants along with an orange jacket and boots.

"Ah the Power Rangers. I have been expecting you. Why not just make this easy and surrender?" After the creature finished speaking, a group of Entroopers merged from the nearby alleys and gathered in front of their commander, ready to fight.

"Alright guys here the plan; follow what I have to say and we will get through this." With that Lance took out his Cosmic Orb and was followed by the others.

Remembering what happened yesterday, Velspro turned to Jin for some solidarity. "You think this is really going to work?"

The golden robot did not spew confidence. "I got no other ideas at the moment, so unfortunately yes."

In one swift move, all five morphed into their Ranger forms and Lance began to lay out the first part of his strategy. "Now then. Velspro, Millie, and I will go fight off the Entroopers. Jin, you go take out anyone who gets past us." With that, the three charged in.

Jin then realized something. "Hey, what about him?" pointing at Fenris. Though that fell on deaf ears as the others were busy fighting off the enemy. As predicted, while the three manage to get most of the Entroopers' attention, three were able to go around them and make their way towards Jin. Expecting the worst, Jin prepared to fight them off as best as a crossbow can in close quarters combat.

That was when the robot heard Lance's voice shouting out. "Fenris!" Suddenly, the Blue Ranger leapt and struck down the three Entroopers easily before they even reached Jin. After giving a thankful nod, the Gold Ranger returned to giving fire support in the rear.

After that was done Lance shouted again, "Jin, check out left." A quick glance clarified what the Red Ranger was saying. A few Entroopers were trying to strike Velspro's left side while he was busy fighting another enemy. In no time, the Gold Ranger was able to use his crossbow to take out the ambushers before the Yellow Ranger noticed them. Something that Velspro was surprised at once he turned around and saw what was going on.

As the fight continued, the Rangers were able to handle anymore Entroopers that came their way. However, the same could not be said to the monster commander as any attempt to get close to him resulted in him using his whip to keep the Rangers back. And in short order nearby Entroopers would come to distract them from going back in again.

Eventually, Lance had an idea. "Millie, I think it's time that we try that new move."

"What? That hasn't worked when we tried it last night."

"Maybe we get lucky this time." Lacking any other options, Millie decided to give it a shot. Activating her weapon so that her blade extended several meters long. As expected, the blade started to become uncontrollable, but a quick grab of the blade allowed the Green Ranger to at least have some control of it. Though it still took a lot for her not to be dragged along to the blade's violent slashing across the battlefield. As such, she quickly swung her weapon over her head and shifted here weight so that the blade went towards one of the Entroopers. The result was that the blade coiled around the opponent's body and preventing it from moving.

With that, Millie did her best to launch the Entrooper into the air with what strength she had. Miraculously, it worked and the Entrooper was flung straight into the air. This was followed by the Red Ranger leaping into the air to follow his target, and with a quick switch on his morpher, he activated his weapon's special attack; the sword suddenly acted as if it was being propelled by a rocket on its back, causing the Ranger to spin away in an increasingly fast pace. Fortunately, one of the sword swings was able to land on the flying Entrooper causing it to fly towards the commander. But not before the Ranger landed a quip, "Batter up!"

The result was that Lamfear was hit directly by his crashing minion, causing him to land on his back and dazed. When he managed to get up, he was quickly met by the Yellow Ranger disarming him with a quick slash of his dagger. The commander was not pleased. "How did you manage to pull that crazy move off?"

The Red Ranger gloated, "Through the power of teamwork. Now let's show you its true power." All five of them flicked the Orb on their morpher which triggered their weapons to unleash their final attack. One by one, their weapons landed a hit on the monster before finishing off with the Red Ranger delivering a sword slash which resulted in the monster to begin sparking with electricity.

"No. This was not part of the deal!" Lamfear then fell and explode in an immense fireball, signaling victory for the Rangers. The Rangers congratulated themselves on their success.

* * *

On the deck of the _Eternal Beacon_ , Commander Pendros was observing the entire battle on the ship's screen, and he was happy with the result. The Rangers were working closer as a team. Sure, there were bumps along the way, but all teams have bumps along the way. They'll work through it as time goes on. For right now, it seems that all is going alright. That was until he heard familiar laughter coming from the smoke of the destroyed monster.

* * *

At the same time, the Rangers heard a pair of laughter from the smoke. What came out were two beings. One was distinguished by a series of white tentacles that made up most of his face that surrounded a large, light blue crystal. He also wore a long, blue overcoat that had strands that seemed to take the appearance of tentacles at the bottom and carried a rather ornate, old fashion style rifle.

The other one was similar, though it appeared that her whole body was comprised of a series of red tentacles. The only other noticeable color was the blue highlights that were on her fingers, shins, and at the ends of her hair. She wore brown, knee high boots, a gasmask, had a large carapace on her left shoulder, and a large bulbous sac on top of head that acted as a beret. She had with her a handgun that was decorated further with tentacles.

The one in blue spoke. "So what do you think dear sister? Think these ones would at least put up a fight?"

With a twirl of her gun, the one in red responded with her own distinct twang. "Five against two? I reckon that'll be too troublesome. For them."

"Huh? Who are they?" Lance asked.

Jin then rushed towards him with a sense of discomfort, "Uh, it's probably best if we get out of here."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ah, so the newcomer needs a demonstration of our prowess," The blue creature said. "What do you say sis? Shall we give them the honor?"

The red creature responded with malicious glee. "With pleasure."

In quick succession, the two creatures aimed their guns and in less than a second, both unleashed a barrage of fire onto the Rangers. The Rangers suddenly felt a series of sparks before they even had anytime to respond, causing all of them to collapse in pain.

The red monster was ecstatic at the results. "I was wrong. There is still some fun to have in this job. Let's get that easy paycheck and call it a day." With that, the two began to charge their weapons for what seemed to be their final assault.

That was then the two were met with a barrage of their own, though most of the blasts were hitting the ground around them. When the Rangers saw where the shots were coming from, they saw it came from Wren who just arrived onto the scene. While her attacks were not enough to even lay a scratch on the two, they were good enough to stop their weapons from charging up. She was followed by Arthro, Ray and Aurox, in their morphed forms, coming to the others' rescue.

Before the Red Ranger could ask, Ray answered for him. "The commander told us to get all of you out of here."

Aurox rushed in to pick up some of the others while Arthro stood in front of the five to guard against any attacks.

That was then the red creature was taunting them, though Arthro specifically. "Oh Arthro, such a shame to see you're no longer part of our club. Though I have to say, orange is really not your color."

"Well you better get used to it then." The Orange Ranger then clicked on his belt to summon a Cosmic Orb and the one he received was colored grey with an image of a dove on it. Placing it on his morpher and activating it, it was clear what the Orb's power was as it summoned a massive flock of doves the covered their surroundings and obscured the two bounty hunters' field of view.

Once the last of the birds flew away, it became clear to the bounty hunters that the Rangers were gone, as no trace of them remained. In frustration, the blue creature sighed. "Guess this bounty still has some life into it."

His red counterpart on the other hand did her best to put on a straight face. "Fine. That just means we get to have more fun with them."

* * *

Immediately, the Rangers returned to the deck of their ship before they were able to take a breath and figure out what was going on. Strangely, Pendros stood there with a silent, more serious demeanor on him. Though he was glad that everyone was alive.

Once he was able to calm down, Velspro was the one to ask what most of the Rangers were thinking. "Who were those guys?"

The Yellow Ranger was followed by Lance. "Whoever they were, they seemed different than the typical Jack Matter thug."

Making his way to the table, Arthro commented, "They're not just thugs." It took him no time to display the two figures onto the table. "They're the Mollusk Bunch; Billy the Squid and Annie Octi. A brother and sister team that usually works with Jack Matter, mainly assassination jobs. They are also some of the most fearsome bounty hunters in the universe."

Jin contributed. "Ray and I were familiar with them back in the day. Everyone would either flee or get out of their way if the Bunch was working nearby."

"I was afraid of this," Pendros said, which took some of the Rangers off guard.

"You know about them?" Fenris asked.

"Had a run in with them a few years back. It did not go so well," Pendros said with some hesitation. "I didn't expect them to become involved. As such, as an order for all of you, if you ever encounter them in the field, your only priority is to get out of there as fast as possible."

Aurox intervened, "But wouldn't that impede our quest for justice?"

"It'll be a bigger problem if any of you get seriously hurt by them. Be happy that you all managed to escape with some bruises. The next time may not be so fortunate. If they show up, you turn the other way. That's the end of it." With that, the commander walked out of the deck, and with his exit the Rangers were left to recover and a little surprised at the commander's seriousness.

* * *

After leaving the deck, Pendros opened the door to his quarters and made his way towards his desk. Once seated, the commander put a hand to his temple. He can't believe that the Mollusk Bunch have come back. Especially after what happened last time. Hopefully they do not become such a common occurrence to the Rangers. But Aurox was right, their presence alone would cause a problem to the Rangers' mission if they so choose. And if that is the case, more desperate measures may have to be used.

But the commander pushed that thought away. "Not yet. Not again," he muttered. Still, the Rangers would need more firepower, and he did know where to get it. Getting on his personal work station, he made a holographic call to an undisclosed location. Though this required audible verification which Pendros quickly provided. "Project location D-J-R-1-9-9-4. Request: Wyvern-2." Upon saying that, the call went through and was sent to someone who responded with only audio.

"Hello sir," the voice answered. "How may I be of assistance?"

"I need a progress report on the project."

"Most of the exterior construction is finished. Aside from wiring and power issues, we just need to go give it a test run."

"Good, good," the commander said to himself. "I need you to accelerate the schedule though. Something just came up."

"I can try sir but as I mentioned, we are having problems with powering the thing. The Orb it's tied to is altered beyond its original purpose. And with no idea on how to reverse it-"

Pendros interrupted the other's thoughts, "Enough. I'm aware of the problem. I'll figure it out once it's ready."

"Of course sir."

The commander did not want to think about how the Orb the responder referred to got into that state. How much trouble that thing got him in. He was just happy that the rest of Resistance Command allowed him to keep this project going, even if they restricted him to an insane degree. After a short while, the commander gave another request, "Give me visual."

"Yes sir."

Suddenly, videos of a hanger shot at different camera angles appeared. They all showed a similar image of machinery working on a larger vehicle. The machine had a long, slender shape, with four claws, and adorned with an ornate, golden head. A massive improvement from what they started with years ago; a bunch of scrap metal, one giant claw, and a half of a head. Years spent collecting lunar dust did not help matters, so large portions had to torn down and downsized for convenience sake. However, the result still showed the ferociousness of what it once was. It was more evident when the videos focused on the machine's head; a pair of horns on the side of its head to imitate the ones it had long ago. Its head covered in gold that was melted down from the gathered salvage. Its eyes modeled after the striking red ones its predecessor had that dwarfed even entire Zords. All of it adorning a serpentine head that was like the one it used to devastate entire planets.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: A Mega Encounter Part I

The Rangers came across a small outpost situated in a forested canyon. The day before, they detected a strange energy reading emitting from this place, as such, five of them were sent to investigate.

When they arrived, Lance, Millie Aurox, Ray, and Velspro, all morphed, found the place to be devastated by fighting. From the looks of things, it appeared that the fighting was very recent. Smoke still emitted from the blast marks and craters. Even parts of the surrounding tall grass were still singeing. There were also several buildings reduced to rubble, leaving only two left standing.

"We were too late," Aurox stated

"It may not be all for nothing," Lance said. "Let's look around and see what happened." Following his advice, the group then split up; Lance, Aurox, and Ray made their way to the two buildings present while Millie and Velspro searched the surrounding area.

Of the two buildings remaining, Lance investigated the smaller one. When he entered, it was clear that the entrance had seen better days. The front wall was caved in and there was glass everywhere from what used to be a giant window. What occupants that were unfortunate to be close to the entrance were completely destroyed leaving only wire and scraps of metal.

Surprisingly, the rest of the building seemed intact. Venturing further, the Red Ranger opened a door to reveal a room full of cages. Whoever was in the cages were long gone as evident by the open cage doors. What's more, upon closer inspection, all the cage locks were destroyed by what seemed to be gunfire. Precise and concentrated. And smoking as well.

* * *

Ray and Aurox were left with the larger building, which oddly enough did not appear to have a scratch on it. A look at the exterior wall showed a thin layer of blue, flickering particles indicating that there's a shield holding it in place.

Upon entering, Ray and Aurox saw one main room and it was still intact. There were still some small items and papers scattered on the floor. Aurox looked through whatever cabinet or drawer he could find while Ray made his way towards what appeared to be the main desk at one corner of the building. Looking through it he found that all the content was emptied out. During the search, the Silver Ranger accidentally flipped a secret switch inside one of the drawers.

Immediately, a small safe revealed itself from below the desk. The thing seemed to be protected by a lock and a number pad. Though the number pad appeared to be purely aesthetic, as it appeared to be one solid piece. A gentle shake confirmed that something was still inside.

Going on a hunch, Ray shouted to Aurox. "Hey, I need to borrow your weapon."

Aurox, not quite following, gave Ray his axe. "What are you trying to do?"

"I'm trying to find out what's inside here," He then converted the Black Ranger's weapon into a dagger. "Must have been important for the last occupants to hide." Ray then took out his scythe weapon and placed the two on the lock and the door gap to try to open it. As he began, he commented that it might take a while to do.

As such, Aurox decided to continue looking around. He ventured alone into a hallway, only to find that it led to nowhere. There weren't any doors or adjacent rooms, just a series of cabinets lining the walls. With nothing else to do, the bull began to search through them. However, the first cabinet he encountered wouldn't budge. Using slightly more force, he managed to slightly move it which caused the floor at the end of the hall to open and reveal a lower level.

Curious, the Black Ranger made his way towards this new room, but not before shouting at it just in case there were anyone down there. Hearing no response, he continued down, finding that the place was barely lit. The only source of light came from the entrance. As such, Aurox changed his optics to night vision to better see further.

Getting off the final step, the Black Ranger discovered a large, bare room that seemed to be colored only in grey stone. There he saw a weird machine hanging from the ceiling. Following the wires connected to it, he found a drawer hidden in shadow by a corner. Opening it, the Black Ranger found only small glass vials. All of them empty. Aside from the contraption, there was one other thing. Or rather, a collection of things.

Aurox found a series of conjoined cages that went from one end of the room to the other. Each one was about two arm's length wide, as well as extending quite a way deep. It was clear that they were meant to contain a large amount of people. What was odd though was that all of them were still locked and in good condition. Even when the bull tugged on the door it barely budged. Analyzing the rest of room indicated that it was in use, there was very little dust or dirt to speak of. But for what purpose, the bull had no idea.

Back above, the Silver Ranger continued to work on the safe lock. Slowly rotating his scythe around for another attempt to push the scythe in while pressing on the dagger on the door to force it to open. Fortunately this time, the door opened.

Looking inside, there was only one thing that was in there. Taking it out, the Silver Ranger discovered that it was a peculiar jewel. It was a dark blue orb that was surrounded by yellow and then by red. Upon looking at the center of the object, Ray noticed something strange. He suddenly felt a deep emptiness that was making him uncomfortable. This was followed by something unexpected. He thought that he was hearing voices, like faint whispers. They felt inviting and were drawing his attention. However, something felt off. Looking at it long enough caused Ray to instinctively look away. It was like something deep inside him was trying to tell him to stop. Not wanting to look at it anymore, he grabbed some paper to cover it, stored it on his belt, and searched the building further.

* * *

Back outside, the Yellow Ranger opened the panel of the communication spire that they found behind the outpost. The resulting sparks that flew out of it indicated that it was not as operational as it used to be. The Green Ranger took the time to comment her compatriot, "Doubt you can get anything useful out of this."

"Maybe I can." The Yellow Ranger pointed to a small metallic box that extended from the base of the spire. "That right there is a message recorder. Acts as a storage unit if any messages were not fully delivered or received. I could probably rewire to show any messages."

"Think you can fix it?"

"I'll try. Not quite what I'm used to." Despite that, Velspro continued to work.

Feeling like this would take a while, Millie continued her walk through the waist high grass. Though right now, the search felt fruitless, the two have walked around most of the perimeter and were unable to find anything of note aside from the communication tower. That was until she felt something heavy and metallic hitting the edge of her shoe. Looking down, the Green Ranger saw a body with its head towards the ground. Crouching towards it, she could see that the being was predominantly grey with silver armor on parts of its body.

When she turned the body over, she found that the head of the being was familiar. A head in the shape of a tin can and overlapping metal sheets and pits that formed a face. While never encountering them personally, she did hear stories about them years ago. About the king who ruled without a planet. About the maniacal sons who vied for dominance. About an Armada that blanketed the stars. "Uh oh."

Meanwhile, Velspro managed to get the recordings from the storage unit. Linking it to his morpher, the Yellow Ranger was able to hear what was being said. Though to his dismay he found the outpost was able to send out a distress signal. As well as who used to own this outpost. "Uh oh."

Velspro rushed to get to the others, quickly followed by Millie. When the others were within shouting distance, they both tried to warn them. Unfortunately, these warnings came in too late as the team was suddenly bombarded with green laser fire that rocked the entire facility.

When the smoke cleared, the skies revealed who it was that was attacking them. Three Armada warships, with their dual cannon design, descending from above with several smaller blue fighter craft as support.

The Rangers retreated to the entrance of the larger building, using its shields for protection. Though it was a temporary solution as they didn't know how long it would last against the Armada's constant barrage. It didn't help that each blast continued to shake the ground.

"I don't suppose we could just use the Zords to get out of here?" Lance asked.

"I would advise against it," Ray said, "The ships would blast us back onto the ground if we try."

"Then there is only one option left." Aurox grabbed his weapon and converted it into a crossbow. The others, with no other bright ideas, followed suit.

"Does anyone actually know how to use this?" Velspro asked.

Lance responded, "Not really. That's Jin's job." Nevertheless, the Rangers pointed their weapons towards the enemy and started firing. As predicted, their shots were all over the place. Though fortunately, some lucky shots hit the fighter craft and even managed to take down a few of them. Though it was a short reprieve as more fighters kept coming, and any attack on the main ships were simply ignored.

Soon enough, one of the Armada ships began to power up its cannons to fire directly at the Rangers. But before it can fire, something flew along its port side and splitting the ship in two as well as taking out some fighters. When the object returned to its point of origin, it became clear what it was. It appeared to be a giant yellow sword, or rather a cutlass. The holder of the blade was also a surprise as well, a giant robot comprised of legs that were separately colored pink and yellow, arms that were blue and green, and a head that was topped with what seemed to be a pirate hat.

While the rest of the Armada ships were turning their attention to the more imminent threat, the Megazord readied itself for another attack. It opened its chest to reveal a massive cannon sprouting out and the appendages also opened to reveal rows of cannonballs ready to be loaded. The cannon soon fired in quick succession causing the Armada ships to be blasted out of the sky. Though some of the fighters managed to dodge the incoming firepower.

In response, the Megazord reverted itself into a flying, red pirate ship and started flying to the swarm of fighters. Once in close range, the pirate ship opened its gun ports and started spinning on its side. This resulted in a barrage of fire that took out all the remaining fighter craft in the area.

Once the pirate ship leveled itself out, it sent forward a message to the Cosmic Rangers through their comms. "Thanks for the assistance."

"Huh? Who are you guys?" asked Lance.

"Haven't you heard? We're the Power Rangers."

* * *

Sometime later, the Cosmic Rangers followed the red pirate ship after they invited them to their destination. It was a world full of scattered islands, all of which were covered in forests. Approaching one of these islands, the team found that hidden under the canopy was a makeshift camp surrounded by ships. They appeared to be built based on Armada designs.

Once they landed, the Cosmic Rangers stepped out of their Zords and while the other team was busying ferrying people out of their ship, Lance and the others observed their surroundings. They found that the occupants themselves were rather ordinary. They appeared human, no unusual features, no out of place body part, no bumps on the foreheads, just humans.

The five Rangers then heard a male voice coming from behind them. "Like what you see?" When the Rangers turned around, they were surprised with what they saw. Six people in multicolored uniforms. Five of them shared a similar design of a pirate overcoat over black. Though the color of the coat was different with red, blue, green, yellow, and pink for each of the five. The sixth was in silver and with a different helmet; being silver and black as well as being less ornate than the others.

The six then demorphed and revealed themselves to be a group twenty something year-olds. The one who was the Red Ranger was noticeable for his brown hair and slightly shorter stature. He then introduced himself, "I'm Troy, and this is my team." The others introduced themselves, Gia, Emma, Noah, Jake, and Orion.

The Cosmic Rangers were a bit hesitant to say anything until Gia spoke, "You don't have to worry about secret identities here. Pretty much everyone here knows about us." With that, the five deactivated their powers and introduced themselves as well.

"Sorry for saying this, but I'm unfamiliar with your team," Lance said

Jake answered, "Oh, we're the Mega Rangers from the planet Earth. I'm guessing then that none of you are actually from there?"

The ones that could easily pass as humans just shook their heads.

"Any of you ever been?" Emma asked.

All the Cosmic Rangers answered quickly and said 'no.' Except for one person. "Once." Everyone besides Velspro turned towards the speaker. Surprised that the answer came from Millie. She shrugged. "I was seven. There's not much to talk about."

"Well, seeing that we're both on the same side, how about we show you around?" Orion asked. Since they were already here, the Cosmic Rangers agreed. Though Lance did tell Aurox to send a message to the others about their whereabouts.

Soon after, the Mega Rangers showed the others around the place. It seemed rather ordinary. People interacting with each other, minding their own business. It wasn't until later that Troy elaborated. "These are the people that managed to escape Earth the day Jack Matter attacked. Constantly being chased and without a safe place to call home, we're the only ones protecting them."

Lance and Ray found this to be a bit odd. Usually Jack Matter would just conquer a planet and whoever escaped would just be left to fend for themselves in the vastness of space. This doesn't even happen to other worlds that had Rangers. Why would Jack Matter spend so much resources hunting this group of humans down? Lance asked, "Jack Matter's actively hunting you down?"

"Not him directly. Sometimes it's one of his forces. Other times it's one of his allies like what's left of the Armada. Unfortunately, it's been mostly us whose protecting everybody. Been like this for five years." Orion answered.

"I thought there were supposed to be multiple Ranger teams on Earth. Shouldn't there be more of you?" Millie said.

"Yeah… We're one of the few to escape," Gia sighed. "Everything went by so fast on that day. It wasn't until later that we found out that most of the others were not even aware of it beforehand."

"Beforehand?" Ray asked.

Noah explained, "It wasn't until later that we managed to discuss with the only other team that escaped. It turns out that only both of us were the only ones that had any warning that something was coming. The others weren't aware of it until the attack happened."

"How did you get a warning?"

Jake answered, "Yeah so few days before, we got a message from our mentor, who is a giant head on a wall, that we had to be ready for something. It just mentioned bring our loved ones to a specific place on that day and lo and behold our old Skyship showed up. Which was surprising since our last one blew up. And on top of that our powers were modified as well."

"What do you mean that your powers got modified?"

"Well before, our powers were tied to the Earth and had these cards we can use. Now it's mainly these little keys." Emma showed the Cosmic Rangers what she was talking about by holding a little key topped with a colored, rectangular head. She then flicked her wrist to reveal the head folding out to reveal it to be a statue of a Power Ranger. "What's more is that we can have the powers of the other Rangers while using them."

The five were fascinated by the Ranger key. The detail on the key was amazing and getting additional powers on top of it seemed surreal. Some of them even wondered if there were keys with their image on them. Velspro went back to the conversation. "Forgive me for saying this, but I wasn't aware that Earth have that many space worthy ships."

"We didn't think so too" Jake commented. "They just seemed to appear out of nowhere. When we asked about them our mentor only said that there was a perfectly logical explanation about it. Never got around to it."

As the group walked around, Ray noticed the size of the encampment. Namely that it was rather small. Judging by how much they walked, he counted less than fifteen ships. Far below any planetary evacuation would subsist of. "This can't be everyone who escaped."

Orion answered, "Eventually, many of the ships decided to split off and go on their own. It does get hard to keep track of them all, but we do what we can to help them no matter what."

"Yeah," Millie said. "We encountered a few over the years." She then continued, talking to herself, "At least some managed to get offworld." Tired of walking, the group decided to take a seat at one of the tables strewn around the place. Once seated, Millie asked further, "So I'm guessing that it was you guys who attacked the base back there?"

"We learned that the place was holding a large amount of humans captive. We were in the process of getting the last few to safety when you guys got attacked." Gia said.

"Did you found out what they were going to use them for?" Velspro asked.

Jake shrugged. "Sadly no. When we asked the prisoners all they knew was that people taken into the larger building tend to never come out."

Aurox said, "We discovered a hidden room there filled with more cages. However, there was no one down there."

"We also found this." Ray took out the jewel he found earlier from his pocket and placed it at the table for everyone to see. "Perhaps you know what it is."

Troy shook his head. "'Fraid not. First time I've seen such a thing. Orion, you got anything?"

"I'm at a loss too. You guys find anything else that came with it?"

While the others continued the conversation, Lance noticed a strange noise in the air. It seemed like a quiet, whistling, whisper that became more noticeable as the Red Ranger focused more on the sound. Soon enough, he discovered that the source appeared to come from the jewel itself. Eventually, the noise began to overtake al other noise in the background. What's more, he began to hear a few words in the mist. _"Can … save … him."_

His vision soon narrowed so that it only focused on the jewel the longer he stared at it. Without thinking, Lance slowly reached out his hand. Only to be stopped by Troy. "Hey, you alright?"

Lance immediately snapped out of whatever trance he was in and rubbed his eyes. "Sorry. I don't know what came over me. It just felt like the thing was calling to me."

"It did?" Millie asked. Everyone then just looked at the jewel to validate Lance's experience. In a short amount of time, most of them was feeling something different after looking at it long enough. For Aurox he heard faint whispers, but they seemed to be a mix of different languages and incomprehensible. Though there was a small feeling inside him that was telling him to go reach for it. Ray felt the same as he did when he looked at the jewel the first time and Velspro felt nothing out of the ordinary. Millie felt a sense of confusion that grew inside her. At first, it seemed that guilt was building up inside of her, which led to the whispers to be more enticing. But soon after, she would feel repulsed by the object which would cause her to try to look away from it as best as she could.

The Mega Rangers on the other hand all felt the same thing as they were quickly drawn to the voice. The voice seemed to be playing on their negative emotions as they came into the forefront and was saying the same thing to all six of them; " _Save … all … just … reach."_ It was so enticing for some of them that they began to extend their hand towards it as well.

Velspro, noticing this, grabbed a rag that was on the table and covered the gem. Apparently, it was enough to snap everyone that was feeling some sort of effect from the jewel. "Maybe it's best that we learn what this thing is before doing anything rash." In short order, everyone nodded in agreement. Ray then put the object away while everyone else was discussing on what to do next.

* * *

Elsewhere, a collection of Armada ships gathered around a red Chariot Ship, the last of its kind. on said ship, an army of X borgs and Bruisers were working on maintaining ship, whether it was repairing parts or carrying cargo. On the bridge, a hologram of Jack Matter appeared overlooking a figure who knelt on one knee in compliance. The figure was primarily yellow and black, with a long, curved proboscis extending from his face, and a long, biomechanical weapon that was merged with his left arm.

Jack Matter was ready to receive the report. "How goes the hunt Yellzor?"

"The hunt continues Jack Matter. But unfortunately, we have hit a snag." The Armada leader responded. "Several of our bases have been attacked, and it appears that they were attacked by the Power Rangers."

Jack Matter was not subtle in the displeasure he was showing. And while Yellzor did not specify, Jack Matter was sure that it was not his team that the Armada commander was referring to. "Tell me," Jack Matter sighed, "how hard is it for an Armada of millions of ships to take out a single red eyesore?"

"We have severely underestimated their abilities. I can assure you; they will be taken care of."

"You've been fighting them for how long and you still underestimate them?" Jack Matter then sighed, "For both of our sakes, I hope that will be true. Though I would have to figure out a reward for your efforts."

Yellzor's head snapped upwards upon hearing that. "But you said that we would have the Earth!"

"No, I said that if either you or your Warstar lackeys could conquer Earth by a certain time then you can rule it as you please until I was ready for the real conquest. And seeing how that has long since passed, it calls for a different kind of encouragement." Jack Matter then bowed forward so that he could look Yellzor directly before finishing in a more serious tone. "Don't just assume that whatever I offer is permanent. Get the work done, and you will have your reward. This goes for you and for every one of you warlords who don't see the bigger picture. Do you understand?"

Yellzor, reluctantly, relented, "Yes, Jack Matter."

"Good. Continue hunting down the Earth fleets as you find them. And take care of your Ranger problem as quickly as possible. That is all." With that, Jack Matter ended the holographic transmission.

Yellzor stood up and did his best to suppress the rage that was stirring within him. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to punch Jack Matter anywhere that even resembled grey matter. Pretty sure it would cause immense pain regardless. What right did this upstart have to order him around? Him; member of the Royal Guard, Scourge of the Talrann Hives, he who brought the Warstar into the Armada. He should be the one giving orders. If it wasn't for Jack Matter's offer, the Armada would still plunder the galaxies.

But, as he observed the windows that cover the bridge, he saw the sorry state he's in. The few ships gathered were no longer enough to instill fear to most civilized worlds. Most of what he had have to go protect the supply depots and bases to keep the Armada moving. It did not help that during the final assault on Earth, Emperor Mavro called for all Armada ships to participate. Only for the fleet of millions to be wiped out in less than a minute. It was only his quick thinking that allowed him to escape with what few ships that were able to flee.

Aside from this small collection of flotillas, Yellzor just has empty titles bestowed onto him. Last of the Royal Guard, Last of the Warstar, regent to an empty throne. Efforts to rebuild were no better. Most of the Armada's treasure was obliterated in the ships that stored them, and efforts to find new recruits were far from successful. After news of the Legendary Battle became widespread the Armada was left as a joke. What was supposed to be the greatest threat to appear in a generation was seen instead as a group of showboating, weak, conceited buffoons. As such, every day just meant more irreplaceable troops lost and the Armada's power continuing to slide into irrelevance. Now the regent wants nothing more than to find a way to bring the Armada back from the brink and to prove its naysayers wrong.

That was when Yellzor heard a commotion behind the door to the bridge. Shortly afterwards, an X borg was flown backwards onto the floor while another was just a torso thrown to the other side of the room. This was followed by a figure who made his way in. When this figure walked in, a sudden chill filled the air. It did not help that the person was covered in strips and spikes that adorned his blue cloak. While this ragged appearance should denote someone of lower stature, the strips somehow organized themselves into having the appearance of death. What's more, the figure's head was nothing more than a skull, partially hidden in shadow to accentuate the dreadfulness, and bright, piercing blue eyes that seemed to strike the soul.

The figure took the biggest bow imaginable towards Yellzor before speaking. Though judging from his tone, it was clear that he was mocking the regent than anything else. "Admiral-Regent. I do apologize for this messy affair, but it seems that I am not allowed to be on this ship."

Yellzor did his best to appear to tower over his newly arrived guest. With a snarl, he continued, "Corpsair. I'm surprised that you even show your face around here again. Failing to respond to our Emperor's call to Earth, harassing your fellow brothers in arms. What's stopping me from killing you where you stand?"

Corpsair responded, "But sire. I didn't flee in cowardice. I was just doing what I was told, to make sure that the Armada survived."

"Well you have a funny way of carrying it out."

"Let's put aside the formalities and hear what I have to offer. I have recently lost a favorite toy of mine, and I need you help getting it back."

Yellzor scoffed, "I don't have time to fetch something of such insignificance. What was it, you're rubber ducky?"

"Oh how you insult me. No, what I want is something of greater power. Something that, if we get this right, will revive the Armada to its splendor." That caught Yellzor's ear. "What's more, it will involve finishing off the Rangers, and the humans in the most delightfully painful way possible."

Still towering over the newcomer, the regent leaned towards him and, for once, enjoying the prospects. "I'm listening."

* * *

Back at the encampment, the Rangers were left to do their own things for the time being. For example, Lance was spending time with Jake and Orion just spending time continuing to walk around while talking to each other.

"So, you're from Andresia?" Lance asked.

"Yeah" Orion responded, "However, there's not much of it left to go back to. And that was even before Jack Matter's conquest." The Silver Mega Ranger could still remember the day that the Armada attacked his world. The last of his kind, having to survive in the wilds and smoldering ruins of his home. Overtime, he thought that escaping his world and fighting the Armada would bring him peace. But he still felt empty. Even when he left to rebuild Andresia by himself it still felt like he was missing something. It didn't take a long time for the Ranger to realize what was missing. "But soon I came to realize that I now have a new home and family. These guys." He then nudged an elbow towards the Green Mega Ranger.

"Hey enough with the schmaltzy stuff" Jake reacted jokingly, "I get enough of it as it is." He then turned towards the Red Cosmic Ranger. "So where are you from then if you're not from Earth?"

Lance was quick to answer. "I'm from a world called Kaien, but I haven't been back in … Sages who knows how long." The thought of which left him a bit empty inside.

"What made you decided to be a Ranger? Got suddenly transported away to a spooky cave?"

Lance lit up a bit upon hearing the question. "No. Actually, I joined them willingly when I found them. Figured that following them would make me as great a warrior as Orion."

Jake let out a laugh before placing an arm around Orion. "You hear that buddy, you got yourself a fan."

Lance looked at Jake in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh. You said that you wanted to be like Orion."

Orion corrected him, "Orion's a pretty common name in space."

"Yep. And all of them honoring the same person," Lance said excitedly. "The man who led the defense of Liaria against the armies of the Living Nova. The one who took out the World Serpent with just a swing of his weapon. The greatest monster slayer in the universe. All the while not even being a Ranger."

"You sure look up to him huh?" Jake asked.

"How can I not? His name is considered legendary everywhere in the universe. I can only dream to be half the man he ever was."

With that, Orion had a proposition. "In that case great warrior, how about you test your mettle on two bona fide heroes?"

Still filled with joy, Lance gave a response. "Oh, you're on."

* * *

Elsewhere, Noah and Velspro were off to help repair one of the refugee ship's engines after a group of kids complained that it kept making weird noises. With nothing better to do, the two decided to work on it. Or more specifically, Noah was doing most of the work while Velspro was on the sideline.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" Velspro asked.

"For the most part. I looked into Armada ships when they attacked the Earth, so these are vaguely similar." The Blue Mega Ranger responded.

While Noah continued his work, the Yellow Cosmic Ranger noticed something deeper inside the engine. "Hold on a second. Some of the cylinders leading to the manifold are loose and too close together. Maybe that's what causing the rattling."

"Huh, looks like you're right. How did you know?"

"You're not the only one who has dabbled in ships." Though Velspro did not seem enthusiastic about it.

Once the two tightened up and moved the cylinders around, Noah asked something that was on his mind for a while. Though he still hasn't figured out a way to ask without sounding a bit rude. "You're an Aquitian right?"

"Yeah…"

"We've met some others a while back. I got to say, your speech pattern is quite different than how the others spoke." Velspro knew what he meant. He didn't exactly sound like he was gargling water every time he talked, like other Aquitians. Obvious in hindsight, but something that he no longer paid attention to.

Velspro gave a quick answer, "I spent a lot of time talking to offworlders back home. Lost the accent after a while"

The Blue Ranger nodded when given the answer. "Also, I'm surprised that you're not that worried about getting enough water."

"Oh yeah about that." Velspro was so used to the fact that even he can forget about it at times. Turning his back on the Blue Mega Ranger, he lowered the back of his shirt collar to reveal a slim, mechanical strip on the back of his neck. It looked like a grey neckband that stopped at the sides of his neck. What's more, the device had a series of flaps that slowly rose and fell like they were breathing.

"Vaporators. Let's me to get water from the atmosphere. Doesn't quite solve the problem, but it's useful in most places."

"Fascinating. I didn't know these were a thing."

"Not surprised. These were still relatively new when Jack Matter attacked."

Noah continued. "Also, I recalled that Aquitar had their own team of Rangers correct?"

"Yeah but, got no idea where they are. They joined up with the Resistance after Aquitar fell though they were assigned to another unit and I haven't heard from them in years."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It would require a lot to take them down. Just hope that they will return when we take back our planet as well."

* * *

On a nearby mountain, Emma and Millie were walking along the cliffs that overlooked the encampment. Emma commented on how she would take a picture of the landscape where any refugee ship set up camp. She also talked about how she expanded her photography on happier moments among the humans.

While Emma was having no problem with the hike, Millie was finding herself to be getting a bit winded. While not overly concerned about her physical health, the Cosmic Ranger thought that she was at least in better shape than most people her age. Apparently, jogging through the _Eternal Beacon's_ halls did not prepare her for something like this. "So how much further do you think we need to go for the perfect spot?"

Turning back, the Mega Ranger realized just how big of a gap there was between them. Last time she checked, the two were nearly side by side, now they were almost two yards apart. "Don't worry, just a bit further."

Fortunately for Millie, Emma was right after another minute of hiking. Once they sat down at the edge of the cliff, Millie was finally able to appreciate the view. The cliff overlooked the encampment that appeared to be swallowed up by a blanket of leaves that shimmered in the sunlight. Beyond that there were mountains that were pristine in their elegance, and if she looked a little further out, she could make out the ocean. That doesn't bring into account the birds of various colors that flew across the sky. "Wow, what a view."

After taking her picture, Emma let out a quiet sigh. "You know it's funny. When I was younger, I thought that if humans were gone from the Earth then maybe the Earth would be a more beautiful place. Now that I've seen it happen, I realized how naïve I was. Just taking humans out of the equation wouldn't solve anything, we have to work hard to solve our problems."

"Humans can't be all bad. We made it this far." Millie said. Looking back, it reminded her of how she always dreamed of seeing humans going into space. It's too bad it had to be due to their current situation.

"You said that you visited Earth before?"

Millie tried to shrug it off, getting more embarrassed as she kept talking. "Oh, it's nothing special. Parents had a get together with some other people and I tagged along. It was not that big of a deal."

"So, where are you from then?"

The Green Ranger became more morose when hearing the question. "Um, I would rather not talk about it." The Pink Ranger recognized the uneasiness in her voice and didn't press the issue any further.

* * *

Back at camp, Gia and Troy were training close by their ship as usual. They were joined by Ray and Aurox. Granted, Ray was more on the sidelines observing the others and studying their movements. They initially started working on leg attacks, but after Aurox shook the ground after each attack one too many times, they decided to work on other things.

"Hey Gia, can you pass the water bottle?"

"You sure? It might attack you if it gets close to you."

"Ha-ha, very funny." Unfortunately, by the time Gia threw it Troy wasn't paying close attention, so it flew past the Red Ranger's head and landed a few feet away. Troy made his way to get the bottle only for it to be picked up by a little kid who was rather shy. Troy approached the girl and tried to make her smile and show that there was nothing to worry about. However, that failed when the girl's mother quickly grabbed her daughter and made her drop the bottle in one quick move. The look on the mother's face showed her displeasure.

As Troy picked up the bottle, Ray was offset by the situation. "A little rude wasn't it?"

The Yellow Mega Ranger shrugged it off. "It can't be helped. Some of them are rather resentful of us."

"Now what would the people resent about their Ranger defenders?" Aurox asked.

"A lot of people lost faith in us when Earth was attacked. As the evacuation ships were escaping, we got a little carried away and focused on the command ship." Tory responded.

"What was so important about the ship?" The bull continued.

Gia answered for Troy, "It was captained by Jack Matter himself. We thought that we could pull a similar move that we did with the Armada and take him out leaving only his disorganized troops. But it turned out to be a trap. He got us to turn our attention towards him while his generals ordered his Drillships to attack the refugees."

Troy followed, "That wasn't the end of our problems. A lot of the breakaway ships left because of that. We still try the best we can to help them but some of them we lost contact over time. and in some of the other ships, many are beginning to feel that there will be no end to the chase and being picked off." The Red Ranger then sighed, "Used to think that no matter what, us humans can survive anything. Looking at them right now, it feels like they're accepting a slow death."

* * *

At the Armada Command Ship, Corpsair was able to convince the Admiral-Regent to at least commit to his plan, though Yellzor still had some doubts. "Let's hope that you finally live up to your word."

Corpsair laughed the comment off, "My good sir, that jewel is worth more than any treasure you can think of."

"I find that hard to believe. Even with your plans."

Corpsair just snickered, "Oh ye of little faith. The jewel is part of a matched set. And it just so happens that its partner is the _Abbraccio della Morte_."

"The Ship of the Dead?"

"The one and only. You are looking at the one person who has not only discovered, but set foot in its decrepit halls."

Yellzor could not believe what he was hearing. The fabled ship that carried the souls to the afterlife truly existed. What's worse was that Corpsair was the one to validate its existence when many more worthy beings had failed. "How was it that you managed to find it?"

"I just kept looking. Besides, the 'how' doesn't matter anymore. The 'what' of we're doing afterwards is where the real fun begins." As Corpsair said that, the Armada had finally jumped to its destination. Now all that there's left to do is a command from the Admiral-Regent. "Shall we begin then?"

* * *

In short order, the scattered Rangers heard cries of distress from all over the camp. Trying to figure out the situation, they saw the civilians running for their lives as X borgs followed in pursuit. Realizing the danger, everyone rushed down to control the situation.

In no time, they encountered the ones in charge of this raid, Yellzor and Corpsair, who were themselves leading a small contingent of X borgs and Bruisers. "Ah Rangers. We meet at last," Yellzor spoke.

Jake just asked. "I'm sorry, but are we supposed to known you? Sorry but you all seem to blend together after a while."

"Not in person. But that doesn't mean that my anger is any shallow. I wasn't there when you took out my emperor, but I'll be there to avenge him."

Corpsair placed a hand on the yellow commander's shoulder before whispering. "Just make sure you do your part while I do mine."

"Well, we're here to make sure that doesn't happen." Lance stepped forward to ready himself for battle but was quickly stopped by Troy.

"We'll handle this. Make sure that the civilians are protected." The Red Cosmic Ranger nodded in agreement and then signaled the rest of his team to follow.

"How sad. I was hoping for more Rangers to show up for this foray," Corpsair gloated.

"Well you just have to settle for us," Gia responded. With that, the Megaforce Rangers morphed into their Super Megaforce Modes and began their attack. Yellzor responded in kind with his forces. Attacking these foot soldiers was an easy feat for the Rangers. Years spent fighting them has caused the Mega Rangers to be proficient in easily taking them out. However, what they didn't account for was for Corpsair to dodge his way through the battlefield and running off while the Rangers were too occupied with the sheer number of Armada troops.

Elsewhere, the unmorphed Cosmic Rangers were doing the best they can to keep the X borgs away from the civilians. While they put up an admirable fight, the minions were too scattered to properly track down. Not helped by the fact that many people ran into the trees where it would be hard to keep an eye on them.

While Ray while handling his share of the invaders, he was suddenly attacked by Corpsair's cutlass. Quickly getting himself up, the Silver Ranger saw that his new opponent was clearly another league from the rest of the attackers. As such, Ray resorted to dodging Corpsair's attacks as best he can, hoping that the over exertion would lead to a clear opening. "You can't keep fighting forever."

"Then let's end this quick." The Armada commander then brandished his blaster and open fired on Ray. Unfortunately, Ray was caught in Corpsair's blaster fire causing him to be sent into the air before crashing onto the ground. During this, the jewel flew out of the Silver Ranger's pocket and landed just out of his reach. When Ray struggled to try to grab it, he was beaten to it by Corpsair. Smiling at the jewel in his hand, Corpsair collapsed some debris on top of the Silver Ranger and left him as he was. Oddly enough, the rest of the Armada forces left soon after, even when they were still fighting the Rangers. The enemy soon left as quickly as they arrived.

A short time afterwards, both teams got together to assess what happened. Noah started the conversation. "There seem to be no serious structural damage to speak of. Not even on the Skyship."

"Something felt off with the fight," Aurox commented, "Leaving before the fight can be ended this feels different."

"Agreed, which means that they must have ulterior motives." Orion responded.

"Well we know that they were after one thing," Ray commented, "One of them took the jewel."

"Then whatever they are planning to use it for can't be good."

Gia concurred, "It'll be best if we stop them as quickly as possible."

"Now we just need to figure out what they are going to do." Velspro said.

"Guys!" Jake ran towards the group, followed by Emma. "We got a headcount of everybody, and we found out that-"

"The Armada took the refugees," Emma interrupted, "Almost half of them are gone!"

"This is bad. The jewel, the civilians, it can't be a coincidence," Troy responded.

"Then I guess that it's best if we work together," Lance said.

"We don't want to inconvenience you-"

"Hey, we're all Power Rangers here. We got to help each other out." The Red Cosmic Ranger raised a hand for the Red Mega Ranger to shake who responded in kind. "Alright then, let's get everyone back."

The Cosmic Rangers suddenly heard a voice coming from their morpher. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Wren, you guys made it?" Millie asked.

"We just jumped to the planet, we're going to pick up you guys and be on our way."

Lance intervened, "Actually Wren, I'm thinking that we are going to take a detour. We ran into some folks you might want to meet."

* * *

Once the _Eternal Beacon_ landed, Lance's group introduced the rest of the Cosmic Rangers to the Mega Rangers before comparing notes. Specifically, about the recent attack. Upon hearing what happened, the rest of the Cosmic Rangers were onboard with the mission.

"Thanks again for helping us save everyone." Said Emma.

"Of course, we'll help. We can't just sit by and watch something bad happening." Wren said.

"We're just happy that you agreed full heartedly. No one really trust pirates." Jake commented.

"Oh? Pirates? Do you have any treasure by any chance?" Jin asked while gleefully clasped his hands. "We accept payments in either bars or doubloons."

Emma just laughed that off. "We're not that kind of pirates Jin."

"You disgust me." They just had to bring Jin's hopes up.

"Now we just need to figure out where they went and what their plans are for the jewel." Noah commented.

"What's so important about that thing anyway?" Fenris asked.

While all this was happening, Ray was busy trying to find out what the jewel was, fortunately, it didn't take long to find it. "Think I know what that thing was." Ray then showed an image of the jewel projected from the table. "The Reaper's Eye. Said to be a piece of the Soul Drinker himself, this artifact has the power to tear away one's soul from the body. It is also known to have the power to captivate those who experience loss to wanting to use it, to continue satisfying its thirst. It has also been theorized that it can be used to bring someone back from the afterlife if another takes their place. A soul for a soul."

"Yeah, I caught less than half of that." Fenris said nonchalantly

"It means that it kills anyone using it, though apparently it can bring people back from the dead if done right." Jin explained in simpler terms.

Processing this new information, Gia suddenly expressed shock and horror. "Uh oh"

"Uh oh? What uh oh? Why are we uh ohing?"

Jake joined in. "Yeah Gia, what exactly are you worried abo- Uh oh." It didn't take a lot of time for the other Mega Rangers to realize the implications of the Eye.

Velspro spoke for everyone else on the deck, "I'm sorry but it seems like the rest of us are missing something here."

"Think about it. A defeated enemy with the power to raise the dead. Who's the first thing they're going to bring back?" Noah explained.

It didn't take long for everyone else to be on the same wavelength. "Uh oh."

* * *

In a desolate corner of space, the Armada Command Ship is leading its fleet towards a region of space that was covered by a swirling mass of dark, opaque, purple clouds that circled around each other in a spiral shape. As the ships drew closer to the mass, nearly all the navigational instruments died out, causing all the ships having to fly in blind apart from the viewports. As a result, the ships were made to move slowly as possible in order to not get lost in the clouds.

Despite the difficulty and hardship of this trip, many of the Armada members that could think were full of spirit. For the first time in years they felt the winds of fate favoring them as if this plan works, then the Armada will return to its rightful place as a major force of terror in the universe. Though Yellzor was not as happy since Corpsair was the one who's flying the ship since he was the one with the best idea of where the ghost ship is. As such, Yellzor was in a hurry to get rid of him as quickly as possible. "How much longer till we reach the _Abbraccio_?"

Corpsair responded quickly, "Be patient Regent. The _Abbraccio_ will appear when it appears. Besides, why must you hate me so? I did nothing to you."

Yellzor stood up from his command chair to walk towards Corpsair and spew his diatribe. "You think only I hate you? Well guess what? Everyone else in the Royal Guard hated you for never getting results. You think yourself better than the rest of us with your theatrics? While you gave self-aggrandizing speeches, the rest of us bled on the frontlines. While you were busy chasing fantasies, we plundered the stars. What makes you so special if all you do is nothing at all?"

"Well for one thing, I found what we were looking for." Corpsair then quickly caused the command ship to bank left, causing everyone else to lose balance. The reason became clear as a giant skull suddenly appeared from out of the darkness on the bridge's viewport. Those Armada ships that were quick enough or were at the edge of the formation dodged the oncoming object while the rest were destroyed in the impact. Even then, those that escaped the initial ramming were damaged as they skidded on the sides of the object.

When the Armada ships were able to regain their bearings, the crews were able to glimpse at the true scale of what they just encountered. The skull was merely encased in a larger superstructure that appeared as an old pirate ship in the front, and a futuristic spaceship in the rear. Upon closer inspection of the structure, they found that they were seeing the bottom of the object, and it was modeled to look like a ribcage. The ship was so massive that looking up from the viewports wasn't enough to make out to tips of the masts that held black, tattered sails. All parts of the ship, from the dark colors to the decaying appearance, encompassed the feeling of death the surrounds the ship.

Corpsair snickered as the Brusiers looked in awe. "My friends, may I present to you the _Abbraccio della Morte_."

Corpsair grabbed a shuttle to get onto the ghost ship. He also insisted Yellzor to come along with him. Afterall, it was a regent's job to personally see the rebirth of an empire. The shuttle landed onto the wooden deck with relative ease. When the two stepped onto the deck, Yellzor was astonished that they were able to breath normally when there was no sign of protective shielding for the air.

When the two made their way to the ship's cabin, columns of smoke began to appear around them. These then took the shape of beings of various shapes and sizes. Some of whom they recognized as being of the Armada; Skatana, Matacore, Desolar, the list went on. When these apparitions fully materialized, they were shown to be fighting each other in what seemed to be in never-ending combat. It was soon confirmed that these ghosts are nothing to fear as one tried to strike his opponent behind Corpsair and the ghost's weapon just went right through with not even a tingle.

Once inside, Corpsair led the way to their destination, which was at the highest level of the ship's cabin as led by a winding staircase. When they opened the door, they found a rather small room, darkly lit just like the rest of the ship. The main feature being an altar with a statue of a winged skeleton on it.

Yellzor stood in front of Corpsair and inspected the altar further. It was nothing more than a stone slab. And judging from a swipe of his finger, a rather dirty one. "So what now?" asked the Admiral-Regent.

"Now we just need to begin the preparations," Coprsair responded. "This process may be tricky."

"And what preparations will be nee-" All of a sudden, he felt a tug from behind him. It felt like something was causing his back to extend, and the longer this was happening, he was beginning to lose feeling in the front half of his body, mainly in his fingers and torso. He did his best to turn himself around, but he found that it took all the energy he can muster to do so. Finishing turning around, he saw that the culprit was Corpsair holding the jewel which was drawing in green energy coming from Yellzor. Yellzor realized what was happening to him, Corpsair never meant to help him revive the Armada, Corpsair only saw him as the means to an end.

Corpsair gave a smirk to his victim. "I'm so sorry dear Admiral-Regent, but this is where your time on the throne ends. It's time for a new master to control the stars." Yellzor, in anger, used all his remaining might to lunge at Corpsair and attack him for this treachery. However, when his weapon was able to reach the betrayer, his soul was fully ripped from his body causing his corporeal form to turn to dust and splash onto Corpsair's face. Corpsair sighed and dusted himself off, "Some men just can't accept their place in destiny."

Corpsair then approached the altar and closed his eyes in deep thought. He then began to chant an incantation in the form of an old sea shanty. And as the chant continued, ghosts appeared in the room and joined in the chanting.

 _It is not goodbye, nor our time to die_

 _For our stories are left unsung_

 _I have not travel far, never saw who we are_

 _Oh why must we be young_

 _But now here we stand, they have offered a man_

 _Tough and crude to fill our place_

 _We won't cry poor soul, we have paid our toll_

 _And we're free from her embrace_

 _And we're free from her embrace, thank god, we're free from her embrace_

 _But now here we stand, they have offered a man, and we're free from her embrace_

Suddenly, a large puff of smoke appeared in front of Corpsair that broke his concentration and momentarily blinded him. Once he was able to wipe away the smoke from his immediate vicinity, he found the other ghosts gone and the smoke still present on the altar. For a second he thought that something went wrong. That all his efforts were in vain. But to his delight, it succeeded.

As the smoke cleared, a figure emerged. One that was white and adorned with spikes tipped in red. While different in color, there was no mistaken who the figure was. The Master of the Stellar Horde. The one who nearly brought Earth to its years so many years ago. The true leader of the Armada.

With arms stretched out and displaying to lowest curtsy he possibly could, Corpsair greeted his new prize. "Welcome back, my emperor!"

* * *

 **A/N:** Realized that the timeline of events doesn't really work when you think about it cause sadly having two Christmas and Halloween episodes per team is a thing. Best explanation is to push Samurai to happen at the same year as RPM as well as the following year, Megaforce takes like a year and a half and Ninja Steel takes place concurrently with Dino Charge. Then add the five years for this. Also Beast Morphers was not a thing when starting this so they're out sadly.


End file.
